Zeischka Peter, Coomans Daphné, Deroost Natacha, Vandenbossche Jochen, Soetens Eric
Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium.
Acta Psychol (Amst). 2011 Jan;136(1):148-56. doi: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2010.11.004. Epub 2010 Dec 24.
On successive trials, repetitions of irrelevant information often tend to reduce congruency effects as compared to alternations of irrelevant information. The preferred explanation for this congruency modulation is the sustained-suppression hypothesis, suggesting that suppression of the irrelevant information on a given trial perseveres into the subsequent trial. However, in contrast to the generality of this idea, this modulation is only stable when the irrelevant information contains spatial features, which coincided in the existing research with large conflict sizes and response conflicts. In two arrow flanker experiments, we investigated whether the congruency modulation depends on the size of the conflict, by manipulating the saliency of the target (Experiment 1) and the flankers (Experiment 2). Although these manipulations affected the size of the conflict caused by the flankers, neither experiment showed an influence of conflict size on the reduction of the congruency effect for repetitions as compared to alternation of the irrelevant flankers. We conclude that sustained-suppression is not a consequence of large conflicts, at least if sustained-suppression causes the congruency modulation.
在连续试验中，与无关信息交替呈现相比，无关信息的重复往往会降低一致性效应。对这种一致性调制的首选解释是持续抑制假说，该假说认为在给定试验中对无关信息的抑制会持续到后续试验。然而，与这一观点的普遍性相反，这种调制仅在无关信息包含空间特征时才稳定，在现有研究中这与较大的冲突规模和反应冲突相一致。在两个箭头侧翼实验中，我们通过操纵目标（实验1）和侧翼刺激（实验2）的显著性，研究了一致性调制是否取决于冲突的大小。尽管这些操纵影响了侧翼刺激引起的冲突大小，但与无关侧翼刺激交替呈现相比，两个实验均未显示冲突大小对重复时一致性效应降低的影响。我们得出结论，持续抑制不是大冲突的结果，至少如果持续抑制导致一致性调制的话。
