Moretti Luca, Koch Iring, Schuch Stefanie
Institute of Psychology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
Q J Exp Psychol (Hove). 2025 May;78(5):963-977. doi: 10.1177/17470218231200442. Epub 2023 Sep 28.
A prominent feature of cognitive control is that its deployment is regulated depending on the environmental circumstances. Control upregulation has been widely documented in response-conflict paradigms where congruency effects are reduced both following incongruent trials, and in blocks where incongruent trials are the majority. In two pre-registered task-switching experiments, we investigated whether similar flexible mechanisms are also available when dealing with stimulus-based task conflict. Building up on previous Stroop studies, task conflict was measured as the difference in performance between bivalent congruent and univalent trials, which we name the "valency effect." If cognitive control is upregulated analogously to what observed with response conflict, valency effects should be reduced following bivalent trials and in majority-bivalent blocks. Furthermore, as cognitive control upregulation has been proposed to be task specific, we assessed whether switching to a new task eliminates the expected modulations of task. The results broadly matched our predictions. First, we observed a reduction of the valency effect following bivalent trials similar to the well-known congruency sequence effect, demonstrating similar patterns of flexible control adjustment to task and response conflict. This valency sequence effect was limited to task repetitions, indicating that local control adjustments are task specific. Furthermore, task conflict was reduced in majority-bivalent blocks, similar to the proportion-congruency effect. This finding extends previous Stroop studies suggesting that control is recruited proactively when dealing with stimulus-based task. The proportion valency effect was limited to task-switch trials, leaving open the question on the precise mechanisms behind sustained control adjustments.
认知控制的一个显著特征是其部署会根据环境情况进行调节。在反应冲突范式中，控制上调已被广泛记录，即在不一致试验之后以及不一致试验占多数的组块中，一致性效应都会降低。在两项预先注册的任务切换实验中，我们研究了在处理基于刺激的任务冲突时，是否也存在类似的灵活机制。基于先前的斯特鲁普研究，任务冲突被测量为二价一致试验和单价试验之间的表现差异，我们将其称为“价效应”。如果认知控制像在反应冲突中观察到的那样类似地上调，那么在二价试验之后以及多数为二价的组块中，价效应应该会降低。此外，由于认知控制上调被认为是任务特定的，我们评估了切换到新任务是否会消除任务的预期调节。结果大致符合我们的预测。首先，我们观察到二价试验后价效应降低，类似于著名的一致性序列效应，这表明在任务和反应冲突中，灵活控制调整的模式相似。这种价序列效应仅限于任务重复，表明局部控制调整是任务特定的。此外，在多数为二价的组块中任务冲突降低，类似于比例一致性效应。这一发现扩展了先前的斯特鲁普研究，表明在处理基于刺激的任务时会主动招募控制。比例价效应仅限于任务切换试验，这使得持续控制调整背后的确切机制问题悬而未决。
