PREPRINT_From-Pupil-to-Performance_DoekemeijerCabooter

Response inhibition is key to flexible behavior, and while its mechanistic process dynamics are increasingly better understood, there are indications for important neuromodulatory influences that are thus far mostly considered in animal and pharmaceutical work. Specifically, such work has indicated a tight link between response inhibition and norepinephrine (NE) levels in the brain. In the present work, we used pre-trial pupil measures as established proxies of tonic NE levels to investigate the link with response inhibition using the stop-signal task. We did so in two healthy student samples, one performing in a standard stop-signal task, and one in a variant in which half of the experiment, stop-signals were to be ignored. Our results showed that (1) (faster) GoRT was predicted by (larger) pretrial pupil measures, which was stronger in the stop context induced by the standard stop-signal task; (2) (lower) stopping success was predicted by (larger) pretrial pupil measures, which may be explained by a faster go response working against successful inhibition; (3) (shorter) stop-signal reaction times (SSRT) were also associated with (larger) pretrial pupil measures, but somewhat less consistently. Taken together, our findings show a clear pattern that pre-trial pupil measures predict response speed on go trials, in particular in a stopping context, and a slightly less clear relationship with measures of response inhibition. Our results therefore support a link between fluctuating tonic NE levels and the process dynamics in response inhibition, but in a fashion that is less exclusive to core inhibition processes than might have been expected

A multilab replication of the induced-compliance paradigm of cognitive dissonance

According to cognitive-dissonance theory, performing counterattitudinal behavior produces a state of dissonance that people are motivated to resolve, usually by changing their attitude to be in line with their behavior. One of the most popular experimental paradigms used to produce such attitude change is the induced-compliance paradigm. Despite its popularity, the replication crisis in social psychology and other fields, as well as methodological limitations associated with the paradigm, raise concerns about the robustness of classic studies in this literature. We therefore conducted a multilab constructive replication of the induced-compliance paradigm based on Croyle and Cooper (Experiment 1). In a total of 39 labs from 19 countries and 14 languages, participants (N = 4,898) were assigned to one of three conditions: writing a counterattitudinal essay under high choice, writing a counterattitudinal essay under low choice, or writing a neutral essay under high choice. The primary analyses failed to support the core hypothesis: No significant difference in attitude was observed after writing a counterattitudinal essay under high choice compared with low choice. However, we did observe a significant difference in attitude after writing a counterattitudinal essay compared with writing a neutral essay. Secondary analyses revealed the pattern of results to be robust to data exclusions, lab variability, and attitude assessment. Additional exploratory analyses were conducted to test predictions from cognitive-dissonance theory. Overall, the results call into question whether the induced-compliance paradigm provides robust evidence for cognitive dissonance

A Multilab Replication of the Induced-Compliance Paradigm of Cognitive Dissonance

According to cognitive-dissonance theory, performing counterattitudinal behavior produces a state of dissonance that people are motivated to resolve, usually by changing their attitude to be in line with their behavior. One of the most popular experimental paradigms used to produce such attitude change is the induced-compliance paradigm. Despite its popularity, the replication crisis in social psychology and other fields, as well as methodological limitations associated with the paradigm, raise concerns about the robustness of classic studies in this literature. We therefore conducted a multilab constructive replication of the induced-compliance paradigm based on Croyle and Cooper (Experiment 1). In a total of 39 labs from 19 countries and 14 languages, participants (N = 4,898) were assigned to one of three conditions: writing a counterattitudinal essay under high choice, writing a counterattitudinal essay under low choice, or writing a neutral essay under high choice. The primary analyses failed to support the core hypothesis: No significant difference in attitude was observed after writing a counterattitudinal essay under high choice compared with low choice. However, we did observe a significant difference in attitude after writing a counterattitudinal essay compared with writing a neutral essay. Secondary analyses revealed the pattern of results to be robust to data exclusions, lab variability, and attitude assessment. Additional exploratory analyses were conducted to test predictions from cognitive-dissonancetheory. Overall, the results call into question whether the induced-compliance paradigm provides robust evidence for cognitive dissonance