title: List-wide control is not entirely elusive: evidence from picture-word Stroop.
abstract: Stroop interference is attenuated in mostly incongruent lists, as compared with mostly congruent ones. This finding is referred to as the list-wide proportion congruence effect. The traditional interpretation refers to the strategic biasing of attention via list-wide control. In mostly incongruent lists, attention is biased away from the irrelevant words, whereas in mostly congruent lists, words are more fully processed. According to the item-specific account, the list-wide proportion congruence effect reflects stimulus-driven mechanisms, and not list-wide control. The unambiguous evidence available to date strongly favors the item-specific account. Using a picture-word Stroop task, we demonstrate a list-wide proportion congruence effect for 50% congruent items that are embedded in mostly incongruent and mostly congruent lists. This novel finding illustrates that the list-wide proportion congruence effect is not entirely dependent on item-specific contributions and supports the list-wide control account. We discuss factors impacting the emergence of list-wide control in Stroop tasks.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Washington University, Campus Box 1125, One Brookings Dr, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA. jbugg@artsci.wustl.edu
authors.forename: Julie M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Bugg
authors.forename: Swati
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chanani
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001288:Attention; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011930:Reaction Time; D057190:Stroop Test; D055815:Young Adult