Abstract
An increasing number of empirical phenomena that were previously interpreted as a result of cognitive control, turn out to reflect (in part) simple associative-learning effects. A prime example is the proportion congruency effect, the finding that interference effects (such as the Stroop effect) decrease as the proportion of incongruent stimuli increases. While this was previously regarded as strong evidence for a global conflict monitoring-cognitive control loop, recent evidence has shown that the proportion congruency effect is largely item-specific and hence must be due to associative learning. The goal of our research was to test a recent hypothesis about the mechanism underlying such associative-learning effects, the conflict-modulated Hebbian-learning hypothesis, which proposes that the effect of conflict on associative learning is mediated by phasic arousal responses. In Experiment 1, we examined in detail the relationship between the item-specific proportion congruency effect and an autonomic measure of phasic arousal: task-evoked pupillary responses. In Experiment 2, we used a task-irrelevant phasic arousal manipulation and examined the effect on item-specific learning of incongruent stimulus–response associations. The results provide little evidence for the conflict-modulated Hebbian-learning hypothesis, which requires additional empirical support to remain tenable.
Highlights
Cognitive control is required to flexibly adapt our behavior to situational demands
The behavior-pupil correlations did show some evidence for another key prediction of the conflict-modulated Hebbian learning hypothesis, namely that people whose pupil diameter is more sensitive to Stroop conflict should have a larger item-specific proportion congruency (ISPC) effect
accessory stimulus (AS) effect on learning rate To examine the effect of arousal on learning rate, we compared the progression of reaction times (RTs) on incongruent no-AS trials that were frequently paired with an AS with the progression of RTs on incongruent no-AS trials that were never paired with an AS
Summary
Cognitive control is required to flexibly adapt our behavior to situational demands. In laboratory settings cognitive control is often measured using congruency tasks such as the Stroop task (MacLeod, 1992). Participants in the Stroop task are required to name the printed color of a color word (e.g., the word blue written in black ink). To do so they need to suppress their habitual tendency to respond to the color word (blue) and instead respond to the demanded ink color (black). Participants lacking cognitive control would respond habitually to the stimulus, which is demonstrated by many patients with damage to their prefrontal cortex (Vendrell et al, 1995)
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