Cognitive inhibition in selection and sequential retrieval

Inhibitory models of working memory efficiency (Engle, 1996; Zacks & Hasher, 1994) assert that individual differences in working memory reflect the efficiency of inhibitory processes that exclude irrelevant information and suppress no-longer-relevant information. The present study examined the implication that these two inhibitory processes operate at consistent levels of efficiency within individuals by examining the correlation between two cognitive inhibition effects, negative priming and negative error priming. Negative priming involves slower response to a probe-trial target that was used as a to-be-ignored distractor on the immediately preceding prime trial. Negative error priming is the phenomenon that errors in a sequence of simple arithmetic trials are unlikely to involve the correct answer to the preceding problem. Participants received distractor-target pairs of simple addition problems and were required to produce the target problem sum. Negative priming was observed for prime distractors, whereas negative error priming was observed in connection with previous targets but not distractors. Consistent with the assumptions of these working memory models, the magnitudes of the two effects were significantly correlated.     

The error protection impact of inhibitory after-effects in a location-based task and its preservation with practice

In location-based tasks, responses related to (prime trial) distractor-occupied locations automatically undergo activation, followed by inhibition, which causes these responses to become execution-resistant (ER). Distractor-response ER takes time to override, delaying target reactions that later require this response (e.g., probe, ignored-repetition trials), causing the spatial negative priming (SNP) phenomenon. We learned in this study that distractor-response ER affords this output a degree of error protection. Specifically, when the probe target appeared at a new location, former (prime) distractor responses were used erroneously significantly less often than their control response counterparts, likely due to their ER feature, which discourages their inappropriate selection (i.e., “ER” provides error protection). This error protection also was evident when a previous distractor response was activated by a distractor on the probe (i.e., distractor-repeat trial). Notably, error protection remained effective over extensive practice, as did SNP size (i.e., ER override time) after an initial decline.     

Language context guides memory content

The relationship between language and memory was examined by testing accessibility of general knowledge across two languages in bilinguals. Mandarin-English speakers were asked questions such as “name a statue of someone standing with a raised arm while looking into the distance” and were more likely to name the Statue of Liberty when asked in English and the Statue of Mao when asked in Mandarin. Multivalent information (i.e., multiple possible answers to a question) and bivalent information (i.e., two possible answers to a question) were more susceptible to language dependency than univalent information (i.e., one possible answer to a question). Accuracy of retrieval showed language-dependent memory effects in both languages, while speed of retrieval showed language-dependent memory effects only in bilinguals’ more proficient language. These findings suggest that memory and language are tightly connected and that linguistic context at the time of learning may become integrated into memory content.     

Reinforcement of inhibitory positional priming by spatial working memory contents

This study examined whether positional priming of pop-out is modulated by spatial working memory (WM). In Experiments 1A and 1B, observers were presented with a to-be-memorized item (Experiment 1A: triangle; Experiment 1B: circle) prior to performing a block of search trials, with triangular stimulus configurations (one target, two distractors) on an underlying elliptical frame. Each search block was followed by a memory test (i.e., memory conditions). In Experiment 1C, the presentation of the memory item (triangle) was immediately followed by the memory test, and the search block was performed after this test (i.e., no-memory condition). It was found that targets presented at a previous target were detected faster and targets presented at a previous distractor location slower, relative to a previous empty (‘neutral’) stimulus location, respectively. While facilitatory position priming was uninfluenced by the memory manipulation, inhibitory positional priming was larger in the memory than no-memory condition, but only when the memory stimulus (triangle) matched the (triangle) configuration formed by the three search items. This finding of larger inhibitory priming under memory conditions provides further evidence that positional priming, rather than being purely bottom-up determined, is open to top-down influences.     

Inhibited prime-trial distractor responses solely produce the visual spatial negative priming effect

Responding to a target??s current (probe trial) location is slower when it appears at a former distractor-occupied position (i.e., ignored-repetition [IR] trial), relative to when it arises at a new location (i.e., control trial). This RT(IR) > RT(Control) inequality defines the spatial negative priming (SNP) effect in latency terms. It is uncertain whether the elevated RT(IR) is due to the inhibition of the distractor-occupied location or to the inhibition of this location??s assigned manual response (SNP locus issue). The main aim here was to examine the SNP locus issue. Notably, our SNP design used centrally presented visual events and included having two locations share a common response (many:1 location-to-response mapping) and the use of informative (70?% validity) or uninformative probe-trial response cues. The many:1 mapping trials allowed for the detection of location and response inhibition presence. Results showed that the latter, but not the former, causes inhibitory aftereffects (e.g., SNP) following uninformative response cues. Consistent with this finding, when the informative response cue was valid and was assigned to the many:1 probe response that had just served as the prime distractor response, inhibitory aftereffects were eliminated, when the probe target appeared at the prime distractor position (IR trial) or at a new location (distractor?Cresponse repeat trial). Blocked retrieval of stored distractor-processing representations was proposed as the mechanism for inhibitory aftereffect prevention.     

The locus and modulation of the location negative priming effect

Responding to the location of a target is slower when it appears at a recent distractor location [ignored-repetition (IR) trial] than when it arises at a new position [control (CO) trial], defining the location negative priming (NP) effect. On IR trials, both the distractor location and response are from the prior trial, and the locus question asks whether the delayed responding that arises is caused by the reused distractor position (i.e., a location locus) or the need to execute a distractor output (i.e., a response locus). A location NP procedure was used, incorporating a many:1 location-to-response mapping design, along with a response cue on some trials. A response locus for the location NP effect was indicated. Distractor-turned-target responses took longer to initiate than new outputs (many:1 paradigm), and valid response cues reduced distractor response interference and the location NP effect. Importantly, a possible S-R compatibility problem within the many:1 S-R paradigm was not supported.     

Influence of attended repetition trials on negative priming in younger and older adults

A lengthened response time when a distractor becomes a target, called negative priming, is an undisputed phenomenon in selective attention, yet just what the underlying mechanism responsible for negative priming is has not been resolved. In this study, the proportion of attended repetition trials was manipulated in order to test the predictions of three theories that have been proposed for explaining spatial negative priming: distractor suppression (e.g., Tipper, 1985), episodic memory retrieval (e.g., Neill, Valdes, &; Terry, 1995), and novelty bias (e.g., Milliken, Tipper, Houghton, &; Lupiáñez, 2000). The results supported the proposal that a novelty bias, which is flexible and can be overridden, is the primary mechanism responsible for priming in spatial tasks. Memory retrieval obscured the novelty bias for target processing, was more selective in older adults, and did not affect distractor processing. Novelty bias and distractor suppression may share the same inhibitory attentional mechanism.     

Irrelevant singletons in pop-out search: attentional capture or filtering costs?

The aim of the present study was to investigate whether costs invoked by the presence of an irrelevant singleton distractor in a visual search task are due to attentional capture by the irrelevant singleton or spatially unrelated filtering costs. Measures of spatial effects were based on distance effects, compatibility effects, and differences between singleton and nonsingleton target trials. The results show that the distractor only regularly captures attention when it is nonpredictive of the target position and unpredictably changes its features. When the distractor is antipredictive of the target position and the irrelevant features of target and distractor remain constant throughout the experiment, spatially unrelated filtering costs prevail. Further experiments showed that filtering costs accrue from distractor inhibition or target activation processes, which in turn can be modeled as instances of priming of pop-out. The present study thus clarifies the notion of filtering costs and modifies present accounts of the distraction effect. Moreover, the results also relate to research of intertrial priming by showing that priming affects the stage of attentional selection and depends on top-down attentional control settings.     

Disengagement of the location negative priming effect: The influence of an intervening response

Reaction time is significantly longer when a target stimulus arises at a location that has just contained a distractor event, relative to when it appears at a new location [i.e., called, the location negative priming (NP) effect]. The NP effect is eliminated when the second of two paired trials (i.e., prime-to-probe trials) predictably lacks a distractor when the preceding trial contains both a target and a distractor event (T+D), but not when a prime distractor appears alone (D-only). We tested the possibility that the failed NP process disengagement seen with D-only prime trials resulted because they do not require the production of an overt intervening response. This possibility was supported. Results also showed that the intervening response had to meet prerequisites; namely, the response had to be prime-generated, i.e., come from the subset of experimental responses and have engaged in a conflict with the prime distractor-activated response.     

Recently inhibited responses are avoided for both masked and nonmasked primes in a spatial negative priming task

Responding to the location of a target is delayed when the target arises at a position previously occupied by a distractor (ignored-repetition trial), relative to when it occurs at a formerly unoccupied location (control trial) [i.e., the spatial negative priming (SNP) effect]. Speculation has held that recently inhibited (distractor) responses resist future execution (i.e., execution resistance [ER]), and thus cause SNP. Evidence for ER has been reported for identity-based tasks using masked prime distractor events. The purpose of this study was to examine the potential impact of ER on response selection in an SNP task for both nonmasked (traditional) and masked primes. We employed a modified SNP task that included nonmasked and masked target-only and distractor-only visual primes (first trial), along with forced choice and free choice probes (second trial). On free choice trials, a selection bias against the prime-distractor-assigned response was evident (same-hand competition, for both nonmasked and masked primes). This selection avoidance was held to reflect ER operating with inhibited prime distractor responses. Further, inhibitory aftereffect patterns were the same for nonmasked and masked distractor primes, and masking target primes transformed a positive to a negative aftereffect, as predicted by the self-inhibition model of mask function set out by Schlaghecken and Eimer (Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 11, 463-468, 2004).     

A late locus of the distractor frequency effect in picture–word interference: Evidence from event-related potentials

In this study, we investigated how people deal with irrelevant contextual information during speech production. Two main models have been proposed. WEAVER++ assumes that irrelevant information is removed from the production system by an early blocking mechanism. On the other hand, the response exclusion hypothesis assumes a blocking mechanism that operates late, after lexical selection has finished. To delineate between these models, we focused on the distractor frequency effect (i.e., longer picture naming latencies in the context of low-frequency compared to high-frequency words) and measured ERPs concurrently. Behaviorally, the distractor frequency effect was replicated. In the ERPs, three effects were found. One effect occurred very early and is interpreted as an effect of low-level visual feature processing. The two other effects occurred after lexical access and are thus in line with the response exclusion hypothesis.     

Spatial negative priming modulation: The influence of probe-trial target cueing,distractor presence,and an intervening response

Reaction times are slower when a target (T) appears at a location that has just contained a distractor (D) (ignored-repetition trial), relative to when it arises at a previously unoccupied spatial position (control trial), i.e., the spatial negative priming (NP) effect. In a typical spatial NP paradigm trials are presented in pairs, first the prime and then the probe. Validly cueing ignored-repetition trials, and/or reducing probe distractor probability, modulated the NP process under certain conditions following target-plus-distractor (prime response) but not after distractor-only (no prime response) primes. This supported the idea that the production of a prime (intervening) response meets the needs for producing NP modulation. Additionally, NP elimination, evident when the probe was randomly distractor-free, was not seen when the probe also contained a distractor event. This suggests that the removal of the NP effect is likely achieved by blocking the retrieval of prime distractor information, rather than by removing the NP cause. Seemingly, the presence of a probe distractor is able to bypass the retrieval block.     

Cross-trial priming in visual search for singleton conjunction targets: role of repeated target and distractor features

Kristjánsson, Wang, and Nakayama (2002) demonstrated that visual search for conjunctively defined targets can be substantially expedited ("primed") when target and distractor features are repeated on consecutive trials. Two experiments were conducted to examine whether the search response time (RT) facilitation on target-present trials results from repetition of target-defining features, distractor features, or both. The experiments used a multiple conjunctive search paradigm (adapted from Kristjánsson et al., 2002), in which the target and distractor features were varied (i.e., repeated) independently of each other across successive trials. The RT facilitation was numerically largest when both target and distractor features were repeated, but not significantly larger than that when only distractor features were repeated. This indicates that cross-trial priming effects in conjunctive visual search result mainly from the repetition of distractor, rather than target, features.     

The role of perceptual load in negative priming

Negative priming (NP) effects from irrelevant distractors were assessed as a function of perceptual load in the processing of prime targets. Participants searched for a target letter among a varying number of nontarget letters in the center of the display and ignored an irrelevant peripheral distractor. NP from this distractor was found to depend on the relevant search set size, decreasing as this set size was increased. The authors conclude that exhausting attention in relevant processing reduces irrelevant processing (e.g., N. Lavie, 1995), leaving less distractor processing to produce NP. This conclusion is consistent with recent reactive inhibition views for NP (e.g., G. Houghton, S. P. Tipper, B. Weaver, & D. I. Shore, 1996).     

Facilitation versus inhibition in the masked priming same-different matching task

In the past years, growing attention has been devoted to the masked priming same-different task introduced by Norris and Kinoshita ( 2008 , Journal of Experimental Psychology: General). However, a number of researchers have raised concerns on the nature of the cognitive processes underlying this task-in particular the suspicion that masked priming effects in this task are mostly inhibitory in nature and may be affected by probe-prime contingency. To examine the pattern of facilitative/inhibitory priming effects in this task, we conducted two experiments with an incremental priming paradigm using four stimulus-onset asynchronies (13, 27, 40, and 53?ms). Experiment 1 was conducted under a predictive-contingency scenario (probe-prime-target; i.e., "same" trials: HOUSE-house-HOUSE vs. house-water-HOUSE; "different" trials: field-house-HOUSE vs. field-water-HOUSE), while Experiment 2 employed a zero-contingency scenario (i.e., "same" trials: HOUSE-house-HOUSE vs. house-water-HOUSE; "different" trials: field-field-HOUSE vs. field-water-HOUSE). Results revealed that, for "same" responses, both facilitation and inhibition increased linearly with prime duration in the two scenarios, whereas the pattern of data varied for "different" responses, as predicted by the Bayesian Reader model.     

Context-specific prime-congruency effects: On the role of conscious stimulus representations for cognitive control

Recent research suggests that processing of irrelevant information can be modulated in a rapid online fashion by contextual information in the task environment depending on the usefulness of that information in different contexts. Congruency effects evoked by irrelevant stimulus attributes are smaller in contexts with high proportions of incongruent trials and larger in contexts with high proportions of congruent trials (e.g., Corballis and Gratton, 2003, Lehle and Hübner, 2008). The present study investigates these context-adaptation effects in a masked-priming paradigm. Context-specific adaptation effects transfer to stimulus identities that are equiprobale in all contexts – an observation that renders explanations in terms of event-learning processes unlikely. Yet, context-specific effects vanished when the irrelevant information remained unconscious. The results suggest that context-specific adaptation of congruency effects reflect cognitive control operations that alter the processing of irrelevant information depending on the experienced utility of that information for action control.     

Long-term negative priming: Support for retrieval of prior attentional processes

Negative priming reveals that participants respond slowly to a probe target that was a task-irrelevant distractor in the preceding prime display (e.g., Tipper, 1985) and is thought to reflect processes mediating short-term behaviour. However, since the first surprising reports that negative priming is found with meaningless stimuli across delays of 30 days (e.g., DeSchepper & Treisman, 1996), researchers have questioned the existence of long-term negative priming effects. Because long-term negative priming could indicate that task-irrelevant information leaves a memory trace that impacts performance over time, such a finding is of immense theoretical importance. Indeed, the current research finds support for the existence of long-term negative priming as well as its generality across different stimuli and conditions. The authors propose that the initial processes that prevent response to irrelevant stimuli may be stored in memory, where retrieval of these processes can mediate behaviour over time.     

The influence of response conflict on voluntary task switching: a novel test of the conflict monitoring model

The conflict monitoring model of cognitive control posits that response conflict triggers a top-down enhancement of a task’s representation in working memory. In the present study, we conducted a novel test of the conflict monitoring model using a voluntary task switching paradigm. We predicted that a task’s representation would be enhanced following events associated with high response conflict (i.e., incongruent trials and incorrect responses), leading participants to voluntarily choose to repeat that task more often after these events than after events associated with low response conflict (i.e., congruent trials and correct responses). In two experiments, performance following incongruent trials was consistent with the conflict monitoring model. However, performance following incorrect trials did not fit with the model’s predictions. These findings provide novel support for the conflict monitoring model while revealing new effects of incorrect trials that the model cannot explain.     

Post-conflict slowing: cognitive adaptation after conflict processing

The aftereffects of error and conflict (i.e., stimulus or response incongruency) have been extensively studied in the cognitive control literature. Each has been characterized by its own behavioral signature on the following trial. Conflict leads to a reduced congruency effect (Gratton effect), whereas an error leads to increased response time (post-error slowing). The reason for this dissociation has remained unclear. Here, we show that post-conflict slowing is not typically observed because it is masked by the processing of the irrelevant stimulus dimension. We demonstrate that post-conflict slowing does occur when tested in pure trials where helpful or detrimental impacts from irrelevant stimulus dimensions are removed (i.e., univalent stimuli).     

任务无关情绪刺激对工作记忆信息更新的影响:来自ERP的证据

任务无关的情绪刺激如何对工作记忆的信息更新过程产生影响还不清楚。本研究采用情绪N-back任务,结合事件相关电位技术调查情绪对工作记忆信息更新的影响。ERP结果显示,在0-back任务中,负性分心物诱发的P3显著小于中性分心物,表明其干扰了工作记忆信息更新过程;而在2-back任务中,负性分心物诱发的P3与中性分心物没有显著差异,表明其未对信息更新表现出干扰效应。该结果支持了情绪与认知加工的双竞争模型。