Generalizing attentional control across dimensions and tasks: evidence from transfer of proportion-congruent effects.
Three experiments investigated transfer of list-wide proportion congruent (LWPC) effects from a set of congruent and incongruent items with different frequency (inducer task) to a set of congruent and incongruent items with equal frequency (diagnostic task). Experiments 1 and 2 mixed items from horizontal and vertical Simon tasks. Tasks always involved different stimuli that varied on the same dimension (colour) in Experiment 1 and on different dimensions (colour, shape) in Experiment 2. Experiment 3 mixed trials from a manual Simon task with trials from a vocal Stroop task, with colour being the relevant stimulus in both tasks. There were two major results. First, we observed transfer of LWPC effects in Experiments 1 and 3, when tasks shared the relevant dimension, but not in Experiment 2. Second, sequential modulations of congruency effects transferred in Experiment 1 only. Hence, the different transfer patterns suggest that LWPC effects and sequential modulations arise from different mechanisms. Moreover, the observation of transfer supports an account of LWPC effects in terms of list-wide cognitive control, while being at odds with accounts in terms of stimulus-response (contingency) learning and item-specific control.
a Fakultät 12, Institut für Psychologie , Technische Universität Dortmund , Dortmund , Germany.
Peter
P
Wühr
Wout
W
Duthoo
Wim
W
Notebaert
D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D005260:Female; D005793:Generalization, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D057190:Stroop Test; D014163:Transfer, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult
Congruency effect; Gratton effect; Proportion-congruent effect; Sustained conflict adaptation; Transfer; Transient conflict adaptation