Potentiation of performance in an Eriksen flanker task

Abstract

This experiment examined the effects of a redundant cue that predicted the target response to a target stimulus in a response conflict procedure using a flanker task. Participants received trials with five-character arrays with a central target character and distractor flanker characters that matched (compatible) or did not match (incompatible) the central target. Participants’ expectancies for compatible and incompatible trials were manipulated by presenting pre-trial cues that signaled the occurrence of compatible or incompatible trials. Some groups received a single cue predicting the target stimulus and the required target response. Other groups received this cue along with a second redundant, predictive cue. The presence of a second, redundant cue during training in which incompatible trials were predicted facilitated performance (errors were reduced) compared to when only a single cue was present. This finding is consistent with the potentiation effect in conditioning and learning. Extinction of the nontarget cue prior to testing on the target (a retrospective revaluation manipulation) had no effect on performance. The finding of potentiation between pre-trial cues that predict incompatible trials, but not cues that predict compatible trials, suggests that different strategic processes may occur during adaptation to conflict when different kinds of trials are expected.