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Abstract

In their paper "The Musical Stroop Effect: Opening a New Avenue to Research on Automatisms," <citationReference id="cr4-1" rid="c4">Grégoire, Perruchet, and Poulin-Charronnat (2013)</citationReference> use a musical Stroop-like task to demonstrate the automaticity of musical note naming in musicians. In addition, the authors suggest that music training can serve as a tool in order to study the acquisition of automaticity. In the following commentary, we aim to address three main issues concerning the paper by <citationReference id="cr4-2" rid="c4">Grégoire et al. (2013)</citationReference>. First, we will suggest some additional interpretations of the results; specifically, we will relate to the association between music and space. Second, we will discuss a methodological issue dealing with interference, facilitation, and the role of the neutral condition. We suggest that the study by <citationReference id="cr4-3" rid="c4">Grégoire et al. (2013)</citationReference> lacks a proper neutral condition and thus it is impossible to assert that the congruency effect is interference based. Third, we will discuss the authors' suggestion of using the musical Stroop effect as a tool for studying automatism. We consider the practical relevance of music training as a tool for studying the acquisition of automaticity by pointing out that music training is highly heterogeneous.