On the relationship between spatial attention and semantics in the context of a Stroop paradigm.

A controversial issue in the literature on single word reading concerns whether semantic activation from a printed word can be stopped. Several reports have claimed that, even when attention is directed to a single letter in a word, semantic interference persists full blown in the context of variants of Stroop's paradigm. Incidental word recognition is thus claimed to be unaffected by directed spatial attention and hence to be automatic by this criterion. In contrast, the literature examining the relation between intentional visual word recognition and spatial attention in tasks like lexical decision and reading aloud suggests that spatial attention is a necessary preliminary to lexical/semantic processing of a word. These opposing conclusions raise the question of whether there is a qualitative difference between incidental and intentional visual word recognition when spatial attention is considered. We first consider the methodology from Stroop experiments in which putatively narrowed spatial attention manipulations failed to prevent interference from semantics. We then report a new experiment that better promotes focused spatial attention. The results yield clear evidence that the effect of semantic activation can indeed be sidelined because one or more prior processes were in large measure stopped. We conclude that incidental word recognition is not automatic in the sense of occurring without any kind of attention.

On the association between intention and visual word identification.

One of the most fundamental distinctions in cognitive psychology is between processing that is "controlled" and processing that is "automatic." The widely held automatic processing account of visual word identification asserts that, among other characteristics, the presentation of a well-formed letter string triggers sublexical, lexical, and semantic activation in the absence of any intention to do so. Instead, the role of intention is seen as independent of stimulus identification and as restricted to selection for action using the products of identification (e.g., braking in response to a sign saying "BRIDGE OUT"). We consider four paradigms with respect to the role of an intention-defined here as a "task set" indicating how to perform in the current situation-when identifying single well-formed letter strings. Contrary to the received automaticity view, the literature regarding each of these paradigms demonstrates that the relation between an intention and stimulus identification is constrained in multiple ways, many of which are not well understood at present. One thing is clear: There is no simple relation between an intention, in the form of a task set, and stimulus identification. Automatic processing of words, if this indeed ever occurs, certainly is not a system default. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Visual word recognition: Attention, intention, context, and processing dynamics.

The notion that some mental processes are "automatic" while others are "controlled" is a distinction that appears in virtually all cognition textbooks, as well as in thousands of papers and book chapters. Indeed, so entrenched is the automatic side of this distinction that various leading computational accounts make no mention of it, but instead assume it implicitly. These models, and the field more generally, assume that processing is stimulus triggered and does not need any form of attention or an intention as a preliminary. Further, the fundamental processing dynamics underlying such automatic processing is widely seen as consisting of interactive activation and autonomous in that it unfolds in the same way across contexts. I review a number of findings from my lab that lead me to a different conclusion. Visual word recognition requires a consideration and integrated understanding of automaticity, attention, intention, context, and cognitive processing. I present various findings that challenge the preeminent role ascribed to interactive activation as implemented in the dominant computational models. I conclude that, going forward, the time is due for computational models of visual word recognition (and researchers in the field more generally) to acknowledge that the findings reported here constitute benchmarks that constrain theory and present opportunities for making meaningful advances in our understanding of visual word recognition (and perhaps of cognition more generally). A few proposals for how we might think about some of these processes are offered. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

On the joint effects of stimulus quality and word frequency in lexical decision: Conditions that promote staged versus cascaded processing.

Additive effects of Stimulus Quality and Word Frequency on RT in the context of lexical decision when the foils are orthographically legal were first reported more than 4 decades ago, and subsequently replicated numerous times. Two accounts are considered that make different a priori predictions when the foils are orthographically illegal. Yap and Balota's (2007) Familiarity Discrimination account predicts additive effects of these two factors on mean RT and across the RT distribution because it assumes a staged normalization process that deals with the effect of low Stimulus Quality; a subsequent process produces the effect of Word Frequency. In contrast, O'Malley and Besner's (2008) context-dependent thresholding/cascading account predicts an interaction because the use of illegal foils eliminates the need for thresholding at the letter level normally used to protect against lexical capture (identifying a nonword as a word) in experiments where Stimulus Quality is a factor, and hence the system reverts to processes in cascade. Critically, the present experiment yielded an interaction in which low-frequency words were more impaired by low Stimulus Quality than were high-frequency words. These data are inconsistent with the Familiarity Discrimination account as currently constituted, but consistent with a context-specific cascaded account. Further discussion considers how the Familiarity account may be modified so as to accommodate these data. Most generally, these data add to the view that processing is highly malleable (context dependent) rather than the received view, especially in regard to computational accounts, in which interactive-activation dynamics dominate. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Intention and performance when reading aloud: Context is everything.

A widely held account asserts that single words are automatically identified in the absence of an intent to process them in the form of identifying a task set, and implementing it. We provide novel evidence that there is no fixed relation between intention and visual word identification. Subjects were randomly cued on a trial-by-trial basis as to whether to read aloud a single target word (Go) or not (No-go). When the Go-No Go probability was 50% (Experiment 1) the effect of stimulus quality (bright vs. dim targets) was the same size as in a separate block of 100% Go trials. In Experiment 2, where the Go-No Go probability was 80% in the cued condition, the stimulus quality effect was smaller than in the block of all Go trials. These results can be understood in terms of Go trial probability moderating whether subjects (i) hold off beginning to process the target until an intention in the form of a Task Set has been implemented, or (ii) begin to identify the target during the time taken to implement a Task Set. The additivity of stimulus quality and cueing conditions in Experiment 1 support the view that target processing only begins when a Task Set is in place, whereas the under-additivity of stimulus quality and cueing condition in Experiment 2 supports the interpretation that target identification can start during the time that a Task Set is being implemented. Taken together with other results, we conclude that there is no fixed relation between an intention and word identification; context is everything.

On the determination of eye gaze and arrow direction: Automaticity reconsidered.

It is a widely held view that the determination of eye gaze direction is "automatic" in various senses (e.g., innate; informationally encapsulated; triggered without intent). The determination of arrow direction is also held to be automatic (following a certain amount of learning) despite not being innate. The present experiments evaluate the automaticity assumption of both eyes and arrows in terms of an interference criterion. The results of 10 experiments support the inference that explicit judgements of eye gaze direction, when participants respond with a lateralized key press, are (a) neither automatic in the strong sense (they are interfered with by an uninformative, incongruent arrow in the display) and (b) nor are they are automatic in a weaker sense (uninformative, incongruent arrows interfere more strongly with the determination of eye gaze direction than uninformative, incongruent eyes interfere with the arrow direction task). However, the determination of arrow direction is also not strongly automatic, given that it is interfered with by irrelevant eyes. At least with respect to an interference criterion, the determination of eye gaze direction appears less prepotent than the determination of arrow direction, which itself is only weakly automatic. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Do eyes and arrows elicit automatic orienting? Three mutually exclusive hypotheses and a test.

Eyes in a schematic face and arrows presented at fixation can each cue an upcoming lateralized target such that responses to the target are faster to a valid than an invalid cue (sometimes claimed to reflect "automatic" orienting). One test of an automatic process concerns the extent to which it can be interfered with by another process. The present experiment investigates the ability of eyes and arrows to cue an upcoming target when both cues are present at the same time. On some trials they are congruent (both cues signal the same direction); on other trials they are incongruent (the two cues signal opposite directions). When the cues are congruent a valid cue produced faster response times than an invalid cue. In the incongruent case arrows are resistant to interference from eyes, whereas an incongruent arrow eliminates a cueing effect for eyes. The discussion elaborates briefly on the theoretical implications.

Does Posture Influence the Stroop Effect?

Rosenbaum, Mama, and Algom (2017) reported that participants who completed the Stroop task (i.e., name the hue of a color word when the hue and word meaning are congruent or incongruent) showed a smaller Stroop effect (i.e., the difference in response times between congruent and incongruent trials) when they performed the task standing than when sitting. We report five attempted replications (analyzed sample sizes: N = 108, N = 108, N = 98, N = 78, and N = 51, respectively) of Rosenbaum et al.'s findings, which were conducted in two institutions. All experiments yielded the standard Stroop effect, but we failed to detect any consistent effect of posture (sitting vs. standing) on the magnitude of the Stroop effect. Taken together, the results suggest that posture does not influence the magnitude of the Stroop effect to the extent that was previously suggested.

Attentional constraints on semantic activation: Evidence from Stroop's paradigm.

It is widely believed that semantic activation from print is automatic in the sense that it is capacity free. Two experiments addressed this issue in the context of the Psychological Refractory Period (PRP) paradigm. Participants identified whether a tone was high or low in pitch in Task 1, and named the color carried by an irrelevant word in Task 2. Tasks 1 and 2 were separated by a short or long SOA. In Experiment 1 incongruent color words and neutral words served as irrelevant distractors, whereas in Experiment 2 the distractors consisted of incongruent color associates (e.g., tomato) and the same set of neutral items. Additionally, the proportion of short and long SOAs between Task 1 and Task 2 varied across blocks, within subjects (e.g., 80:20), so as to determine whether the bottlenecking of semantic activation and response competition reported previously is best construed as structural, or subject to performance optimization. Replicating Miller, Ulrich, and Rolke (2009), SOA Proportion interacted with SOA in both experiments, consistent with performance optimization. In contrast, replicating Besner and Reynolds (2014), SOA and Congruency had additive effects on RT in both experiments, consistent with an account in which both response competition and semantic activation are bottlenecked. The best account to date is that (i) semantic processing and response competition are structurally bottlenecked (require some form of capacity), whereas (ii) other anonymous processes are subject to performance optimization.

Reading Aloud: Discrete Stage(s) Redux.

Interactive activation accounts of processing have had a broad and deep influence on cognitive psychology, particularly so in the context of computational accounts of reading aloud at the single word level. Here we address the issue of whether such a framework can simulate the joint effects of stimulus quality and word frequency (which have been shown to produce both additive and interactive effects depending on the context). We extend previous work on this question by considering an alternative implementation of a stimulus quality manipulation, and the role of interactive activation. Simulations with a version of the Dual Route Cascaded model (a model with interactive activation dynamics along the lexical route) demonstrate that the model is unable to simulate the entire pattern seen in human performance. We discuss how a hybrid interactive activation model that includes some context dependent staged processing could accommodate these data.

The first letter position effect in visual word recognition: The role of spatial attention.

A prominent question in visual word recognition is whether letters within a word are processed in parallel or in a left to right sequence. Although most contemporary models posit parallel processing, this notion seems at odds with well-established serial position effects in word identification that indicate preferential processing for the initial letter. The present study reports 4 experiments designed to further probe the locus of the first position processing advantage. The paradigm involved masked target words presented for short durations and required participants to subsequently select from 2 alternatives, 1 which was identical to the target and 1 that differed by a single letter. Experiment 1 manipulated the case between the target and the alternatives to ensure that previous evidence for a first position effect was not due to simple perceptual matching. The results continued to yield a robust first position advantage. Experiment 2 attempted to eliminate postperceptual decision processes as the explanatory mechanism by presenting single letters as targets and requiring participants to select an entire word that contained the target letter at different positions. Here the first position advantage was eliminated, suggesting postperceptual decision processes do not underlie the effect. The final 2 experiments presented masked stimuli either all vertically (Experiment 3) or randomly intermixed vertical and horizontal orientation (Experiment 4). In both cases, a robust first position advantage was still obtained. The authors consider alternative interpretations of this effect and suggest that these results are consistent with a rapid deployment of spatial attention to the beginning of a target string which occurs poststimulus onset. (PsycINFO Database Record

Reading aloud: On the determinants of the joint effects of stimulus quality and word frequency.

There are multiple reports, in the context of the time taken to read aloud, that the joint effects of stimulus quality and word frequency (a) interact when only words appear in the list but (b) are additive when nonwords are intermixed with words (O'Malley & Besner, 2008). This triple interaction has been explained in terms of the idea that different processing modes are in play in these different contexts. Processing is cascaded when only words appear in the list, allowing the effect of stimulus quality to influence the downstream process(es) affected by word frequency. In contrast, when nonwords appear in the list an early process affected by stimulus quality, but not word frequency, is staged (thresholded) so as to reduce the probability of lexicalizations (reading a nonword as a word) when stimulus quality is low. The present experiment addresses the issue of whether such thresholding in the presence of nonwords is driven by the orthography or phonology of the nonwords included in the stimulus set. Participants read words aloud that varied in word frequency and were randomly intermixed with nonwords that all sounded identical to words (e.g., BRANE for BRAIN). Stimulus quality and word frequency had additive effects on the time to read aloud in this context, consistent with the view that it is the orthography of the nonwords that matters. Other aspects of the results suggest that between level feed-back is in play when this particular kind of nonword is used. (PsycINFO Database Record

Is semantic activation from print capacity limited? Evidence from the psychological refractory period paradigm.

A widely accepted belief across a range of subfields in psychology is that print activates semantics "automatically" in some sense. One such sense is that activating semantics does not require capacity. This view is assessed here in the context of the Psychological Refractory Period (PRP) paradigm because it provides a way of determining whether semantic activation requires a form of capacity. Task 1 was tone classification. Task 2 was Stroop color naming. The distractors consisted of color words on some trials (e.g., BLUE), and semantic associates on others (e.g., TOMATO). Both types of distractors yielded a pattern of data inconsistent with the widespread view that semantic activation is capacity free.

How closely is the syllable stress effect tied to articulation? A commentary on Sulpizio, Spinelli, and Burani (2015).

Sulpizio, Spinelli, and Burani (2015a), concluded, on the basis of results from 3 reading aloud experiments, that stress assignment in polysyllabic pseudowords is closely tied to the process of articulation. We argue that there are methodological and statistical grounds for believing that this conclusion is premature. (PsycINFO Database Record

Thinking outside the box when reading aloud: Between (localist) module connection strength as a source of word frequency effects.

The frequency with which words appear in print is a powerful predictor of the time to read monosyllabic words aloud, and consequently all models of reading aloud provide an explanation for this effect. The entire class of localist accounts assumes that the effect of word frequency arises because the mental lexicon is organized around frequency of occurrence (the action is inside the lexical boxes). We propose instead that the frequency of occurrence effect is better understood in terms of the hypothesis that the strength of between module connections varies as a function of word frequency. Findings from 3 different lines of investigation (experimental and computational) are difficult to understand in terms of the "within lexicon" account, but are consistent with the strength of between-module connections account. (PsycINFO Database Record

The semantic Stroop effect: An ex-Gaussian analysis.

Previous analyses of the standard Stroop effect (which typically uses color words that form part of the response set) have documented effects on mean reaction times in hundreds of experiments in the literature. Less well known is the fact that ex-Gaussian analyses reveal that such effects are seen in (a) the mean of the normal distribution (mu), as well as in (b) the standard deviation of the normal distribution (sigma) and (c) the tail (tau). No ex-Gaussian analysis exists in the literature with respect to the semantically based Stroop effect (which contrasts incongruent color-associated words with, e.g., neutral controls). In the present experiments, we investigated whether the semantically based Stroop effect is also seen in the three ex-Gaussian parameters. Replicating previous reports, color naming was slower when the color was carried by an irrelevant (but incongruent) color-associated word (e.g., sky, tomato) than when the control items consisted of neutral words (e.g., keg, palace) in each of four experiments. An ex-Gaussian analysis revealed that this semantically based Stroop effect was restricted to the arithmetic mean and mu; no semantic Stroop effect was observed in tau. These data are consistent with the views (1) that there is a clear difference in the source of the semantic Stroop effect, as compared to the standard Stroop effect (evidenced by the presence vs. absence of an effect on tau), and (2) that interference associated with response competition on incongruent trials in tau is absent in the semantic Stroop effect.

A critical examination of the evidence for sensitivity loss in modern vigilance tasks.

It is well known that when human observers must monitor for rare but critical events, probability of detection tends to wane over time, a phenomenon known as the "vigilance decrement." Over 60 years of empirical study on this topic has culminated in the general consensus that performance suffers due to a loss in observers' ability to distinguish signal from noise (a loss in sensitivity) provided that the task loads memory and stimuli are presented at a relatively high rate. We challenge this assertion on 2 fronts: First, we contend on a theoretical level that the metrics employed to measure observer sensitivity in modern vigilance tasks (derived from signal detection theory) are inappropriate and largely uninterpretable. This contention is supported by an evaluation of recent empirical work in the vigilance domain. Second, we present the results of an experiment that demonstrates that shifts in response bias (the observer's "willingness to respond") over time can masquerade as a loss in sensitivity. Consequently, the basic underlying cause of the vigilance decrement is actually unclear, and may simply reflect a shift in response criterion rather than sensitivity. The theoretical, as well as practical implications of these conclusions are discussed with respect to sustained attention in general, and vigilance in particular.

Conflict resolved: On the role of spatial attention in reading and color naming tasks.

The debate about whether or not visual word recognition requires spatial attention has been marked by a conflict: the results from different tasks yield different conclusions. Experiments in which the primary task is reading based show no evidence that unattended words are processed, whereas when the primary task is color identification, supposedly unattended words do affect processing. However, the color stimuli used to date does not appear to demand as much spatial attention as explicit word reading tasks. We first identify a color stimulus that requires as much spatial attention to identify as does a word. We then demonstrate that when spatial attention is appropriately captured, distractor words in unattended locations do not affect color identification. We conclude that there is no word identification without spatial attention.

Control over the strength of connections between modules: a double dissociation between stimulus format and task revealed by Granger causality mapping in fMRI.

Drawing on theoretical and computational work with the localist dual route reading model and results from behavioral studies, Besner et al. (2011) proposed that the ability to perform tasks that require overriding stimulus-specific defaults (e.g., semantics when naming Arabic numerals, and phonology when evaluating the parity of number words) necessitate the ability to modulate the strength of connections between cognitive modules for lexical representation, semantics, and phonology on a task- and stimulus-specific basis. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to evaluate this account by assessing changes in functional connectivity while participants performed tasks that did and did not require such stimulus-task default overrides. The occipital region showing the greatest modulation of BOLD signal strength for the two stimulus types was used as the seed region for Granger causality mapping (GCM). Our GCM analysis revealed a region of rostromedial frontal cortex with a crossover interaction. When participants performed tasks that required overriding stimulus type defaults (i.e., parity judgments of number words and naming Arabic numerals) functional connectivity between the occipital region and rostromedial frontal cortex was present. Statistically significant functional connectivity was absent when the tasks were the default for the stimulus type (i.e., parity judgments of Arabic numerals and reading number words). This frontal region (BA 10) has previously been shown to be involved in goal-directed behavior and maintenance of a specific task set. We conclude that overriding stimulus-task defaults requires a modulation of connection strengths between cognitive modules and that the override mechanism predicted from cognitive theory is instantiated by frontal modulation of neural activity of brain regions specialized for sensory processing.

A resource-control account of sustained attention: evidence from mind-wandering and vigilance paradigms.

Staying attentive is challenging enough when carrying out everyday tasks, such as reading or sitting through a lecture, and failures to do so can be frustrating and inconvenient. However, such lapses may even be life threatening, for example, if a pilot fails to monitor an oil-pressure gauge or if a long-haul truck driver fails to notice a car in his or her blind spot. Here, we explore two explanations of sustained-attention lapses. By one account, task monotony leads to an increasing preoccupation with internal thought (i.e., mind wandering). By another, task demands result in the depletion of information-processing resources that are needed to perform the task. A review of the sustained-attention literature suggests that neither theory, on its own, adequately explains the full range of findings. We propose a novel framework to explain why attention lapses as a function of time-on-task by combining aspects of two different theories of mind wandering: attentional resource (Smallwood & Schooler, 2006) and control failure (McVay & Kane, 2010). We then use our "resource-control" theory to explain performance decrements in sustained-attention tasks. We end by making some explicit predictions regarding mind wandering in general and sustained-attention performance in particular.