Wendt Mike, Kiesel Andrea, Geringswald Franziska, Purmann Sascha, Fischer Rico
Helmut-Schmidt-University/University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg, <location>Germany</location>
University of Würzburg, <location>Germany</location>
Exp Psychol. 2014 Jan 1;61(1):55-67. doi: 10.1027/1618-3169/a000227.
Current models of cognitive control assume gradual adjustment of processing selectivity to the strength of conflict evoked by distractor stimuli. Using a flanker task, we varied conflict strength by manipulating target and distractor onset. Replicating previous findings, flanker interference effects were larger on trials associated with advance presentation of the flankers compared to simultaneous presentation. Controlling for stimulus and response sequence effects by excluding trials with feature repetitions from stimulus administration (Experiment 1) or from the statistical analyses (Experiment 2), we found a reduction of the flanker interference effect after high-conflict predecessor trials (i.e., trials associated with advance presentation of the flankers) but not after low-conflict predecessor trials (i.e., trials associated with simultaneous presentation of target and flankers). This result supports the assumption of conflict-strength-dependent adjustment of visual attention. The selective adaptation effect after high-conflict trials was associated with an increase in prestimulus pupil diameter, possibly reflecting increased cognitive effort of focusing attention.
当前的认知控制模型假定，加工选择性会根据干扰刺激引发的冲突强度进行逐步调整。我们使用了侧翼任务，通过操纵目标和干扰物的呈现时间来改变冲突强度。与之前的研究结果一致，与侧翼刺激提前呈现相关的试验相比，同时呈现时的侧翼干扰效应更大。通过在刺激呈现过程中排除具有特征重复的试验（实验1）或在统计分析中排除这些试验（实验2）来控制刺激和反应序列效应，我们发现在高冲突前驱试验（即与侧翼刺激提前呈现相关的试验）之后，侧翼干扰效应会降低，但在低冲突前驱试验（即与目标和侧翼刺激同时呈现相关的试验）之后则不会。这一结果支持了视觉注意的冲突强度依赖性调整这一假设。高冲突试验后的选择性适应效应与刺激前瞳孔直径的增加有关，这可能反映了集中注意力时认知努力的增加。
