Schneider Darryl W
Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37203, USA.
Psychon Bull Rev. 2007 Oct;14(5):970-6. doi: 10.3758/bf03194130.
Exploring the hierarchical control relationship between different levels of representation and processing is important for understanding how the mind controls itself. In the present study, the relationship between chunking (a sequence-level process) and task-set inhibition (a task-level process) in the performance of task sequences was investigated to evaluate the hypothesis that within-chunk facilitation reduces the n-2 repetition cost (slower performance for n-2 task repetitions than for n-2 task switches) attributed to task-set inhibition. An experiment is reported in which subjects were induced to chunk sequences such that n-2 repetitions occurred within or between chunks. Direct evidence of chunking was obtained, and n-2 repetition cost was smaller when n-2 repetitions occurred within chunks than between chunks. These findings are consistent with an elaborated hypothesis that attributes the reduction in n-2 repetition cost to priming of task goals rather than direct modulation of task-set inhibition.
探索不同层次的表征与处理之间的层级控制关系，对于理解思维如何自我控制至关重要。在本研究中，我们考察了任务序列执行过程中组块化（一种序列层级的过程）与任务集抑制（一种任务层级的过程）之间的关系，以评估如下假设：组块内促进效应会降低因任务集抑制导致的n - 2重复代价（n - 2次任务重复的表现比n - 2次任务切换更慢）。本文报告了一项实验，在该实验中，受试者被诱导对序列进行组块化处理，使得n - 2次重复出现在组块内或组块间。我们获得了组块化的直接证据，并且当n - 2次重复出现在组块内时，其重复代价要小于出现在组块间的情况。这些发现与一个经过细化的假设相一致，该假设将n - 2重复代价的降低归因于任务目标的启动，而非对任务集抑制的直接调节。
