A Computerized Stroop Task to Assess Cancer-Related Cognitive Biases

Abstract. Aim Repeated drug use can lead to attentional bias and approach tendencies, which are thought to play an important role in problematic substance use and dependence. The aims of the current study were to 1) test an attentional retraining procedure in a sample of moderate and heavy cannabis using students and 2) compare baseline attentional and approach bias between the two groups with different implicit measures. Design and participants Attentional bias scores toward cannabis-related or neutral stimuli were determined with modified versions of the Visual Probe Task and the cannabis Stroop task. Approach and avoidance action tendencies toward cannabis-related and neutral stimuli were assessed with the cannabis Approach-Avoidance Task (AAT) and the Stimulus Response Compatibility task (SRC). Seventeen participants were assigned randomly to five sessions of an attentional retraining procedure or control training. Results Attentional retraining did not decrease the speeded detection of cannabis stimuli and the difficulty to disengage from those stimuli, no trainingseffects were revealed. Moderate cannabis users did not show an attentional bias for cannabis-related cues (measured with the cannabis Stroop task), whereas heavy cannabis users did show an attentional bias for cannabis-related stimuli that cannot be attributed to cognitive control deficits on the classical Stroop task. Moreover, heavy cannabis users, but not moderate users, were significant faster to approach cannabis images compared to neutral images, using the SRC task. Conclusion Seen the observed difference in cognitive biases towards cannabis stimuli between moderate and heavy cannabis users, this study supports the allegation that cognitive biases towards cannabis stimuli may be an important marker of problematic cannabis use.

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Frontal EEG Activation Asymmetry Reflects Cognitive Biases in Anxiety: Evidence from an Emotional Face Stroop Task

Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback ◽

10.1007/s10484-010-9138-6 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 35 (4) ◽

pp. 285-292 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Julia Avram ◽

Felicia Rodica Balteş ◽

Mircea Miclea ◽

Andrei C. Miu

Keyword(s):

Stroop Task ◽

Cognitive Biases ◽

Eeg Activation ◽

Emotional Face

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Implicit stereotyping and prejudice and the primed Stroop task

Swiss Journal of Psychology ◽

10.1024//1421-0185.58.4.241 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 58 (4) ◽

pp. 241-250 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Kerry Kawakami ◽

Kenneth L. Dion ◽

John F. Dovidio

Keyword(s):

Stroop Task ◽

Color Naming ◽

Stereotype Activation ◽

Racial Categories ◽

Black And White ◽

Automatic Activation ◽

Black Stereotypes ◽

Implicit Prejudice ◽

Implicit Stereotyping ◽

Naming Latencies

In the present study, automatic stereotype activation related to racial categories was examined utilizing a primed Stroop task. The speed of participants' ink-color naming of stereotypic and nonstereotypic target words following Black and White category primes were compared: slower naming times are presumed to reflect interference from automatic activation. The results provide support for automatic activation of implicit prejudice and stereotypes. With respect to prejudice, naming latencies tended to be slower for positive words following White than Black primes and slower for negative words following Black than White primes. With regard to stereotypes, participants demonstrated slower naming latencies for Black stereotypes, primarily those that were negatively valenced, following Black than White category primes. These findings provide further evidence of the automatic activation of stereotypes and prejudice that occurs without intention.

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Multidimensional Anxiety and Content-specificity Effects in Preferential Processing of Threat

European Psychologist ◽

10.1027//1016-9040.8.4.252 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 8 (4) ◽

pp. 252-265 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Manuel G. Calvo ◽

P. Avero ◽

M. Dolores Castillo ◽

Juan J. Miguel-Tobal

Keyword(s):

Selective Attention ◽

Cognitive Biases ◽

Naming Task ◽

Color Naming ◽

Memory Bias ◽

Ego Threat ◽

Phobic Anxiety ◽

Relative Contribution ◽

Content Specificity ◽

Specificity Effects

We examined the relative contribution of specific components of multidimensional anxiety to cognitive biases in the processing of threat-related information in three experiments. Attentional bias was assessed by the emotional Stroop word color-naming task, interpretative bias by an on-line inference processing task, and explicit memory bias by sensitivity (d') and response criterion (β) from word-recognition scores. Multiple regression analyses revealed, first, that phobic anxiety and evaluative anxiety predicted selective attention to physical- and ego-threat information, respectively; cognitive anxiety predicted selective attention to both types of threat. Second, phobic anxiety predicted inhibition of inferences related to physically threatening outcomes of ambiguous situations. And, third, evaluative anxiety predicted a response bias, rather than a genuine memory bias, in the reporting of presented and nonpresented ego-threat information. Other anxiety components, such as motor and physiological anxiety, or interpersonal and daily-routines anxiety made no specific contribution to any cognitive bias. Multidimensional anxiety measures are useful for detecting content-specificity effects in cognitive biases.

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Semantic Conflict Processing in the Color-Word Stroop and the Emotional Stroop

Journal of Psychophysiology ◽

10.1027/0269-8803/a000100 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 27 (4) ◽

pp. 149-164 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Montserrat Zurrón ◽

Marta Ramos-Goicoa ◽

Fernando Díaz

Keyword(s):

Stroop Task ◽

Color Word ◽

Event Related Potentials ◽

Semantic Content ◽

Emotional Stroop ◽

Semantic Equivalence ◽

Incongruent Color ◽

Semantic Conflict ◽

Related Potentials ◽

Temporal Locus

With the aim of establishing the temporal locus of the semantic conflict in color-word Stroop and emotional Stroop phenomena, we analyzed the Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) elicited by nonwords, incongruent and congruent color words, colored words with positive and negative emotional valence, and colored words with neutral valence. The incongruent, positive, negative, and neutral stimuli produced interference in the behavioral response to the color of the stimuli. The P150/N170 amplitude was sensitive to the semantic equivalence of both dimensions of the congruent color words. The P3b amplitude was smaller in response to incongruent color words and to positive, negative, and neutral colored words than in response to the congruent color words and colored nonwords. There were no differences in the ERPs induced in response to colored words with positive, negative, and neutral valence. Therefore, the P3b amplitude was sensitive to interference from the semantic content of the incongruent, positive, negative, and neutral words in the color-response task, independently of the emotional content of the colored words. In addition, the P3b amplitude was smaller in response to colored words with positive, negative, and neutral valence than in response to the incongruent color words. Overall, these data indicate that the temporal locus of the semantic conflict generated by the incongruent color words (in the color-word Stroop task) and by colored words with positive, negative, and neutral valence (in the emotional Stroop task) appears to occur in the range 300–450 ms post-stimulus.

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The Ego Could Be Depleted, Providing Initial Exertion Is Depleting

Social Psychology ◽

10.1027/1864-9335/a000308 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 48 (4) ◽

pp. 242-245 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

Junhua Dang ◽

Ying Liu ◽

Xiaoping Liu ◽

Lihua Mao

Keyword(s):

Stroop Task ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Ego Depletion ◽

Current Experiment ◽

The Past ◽

Depletion Effect

Abstract. The ego depletion effect has been examined by over 300 independent studies during the past two decades. Despite its pervasive influence, recently this effect has been severely challenged and asserted to be a fake. Based on an up-to-date meta-analysis that examined the effectiveness of each frequently used depleting task, we preregistered the current experiment with the aim to examine whether there would be an ego depletion effect when the Stroop task is used as the depleting task. The results demonstrated a significant ego depletion effect. The current research highlights the importance of the depleting task’s effectiveness. That is to say, the “ego” could be “depleted,” but only when initial exertion is “depleting.”

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A Unique Asymmetrical Stroop Effect in Absolute Pitch Possessors

Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie) ◽

10.1027/1618-3169/a000153 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 59 (5) ◽

pp. 272-278 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

Lilach Akiva-Kabiri ◽

Avishai Henik

Keyword(s):

Selective Attention ◽

Stroop Task ◽

Stroop Effect ◽

Congruency Effect ◽

Absolute Pitch ◽

Naming Task ◽

Color Naming ◽

Reading Task ◽

Pitch Processing ◽

Reverse Pattern

The Stroop task has been employed to study automaticity or failures of selective attention for many years. The effect is known to be asymmetrical, with words affecting color naming but not vice versa. In the current work two auditory-visual Stroop-like tasks were devised in order to study the automaticity of pitch processing in both absolute pitch (AP) possessors and musically trained controls without AP (nAP). In the tone naming task, participants were asked to name the auditory tone while ignoring a visual note name. In the note naming task, participants were asked to read a note name while ignoring the auditory tone. The nAP group showed a significant congruency effect only in the tone naming task, whereas AP possessors showed the reverse pattern, with a significant congruency effect only in the note reading task. Thus, AP possessors were unable to ignore the auditory tone when asked to read the note, but were unaffected by the verbal note name when asked to label the auditory tone. The results suggest that pitch identification in participants endowed with AP ability is automatic and impossible to suppress.

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Is the Musical Stroop Effect Able to Keep Its Promises?

Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie) ◽

10.1027/1618-3169/a000222 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 61 (1) ◽

pp. 80-83 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Laurent Grégoire ◽

Pierre Perruchet ◽

Bénédicte Poulin-Charronnat

Keyword(s):

Stroop Task ◽

Stroop Effect ◽

Extensive Training ◽

Natural Settings ◽

Current Procedure

Grégoire, Perruchet, and Poulin-Charronnat (2013) claimed that the Musical Stroop task, which reveals the automaticity of note naming in musician experts, provides a new tool for studying the development of automatisms through extensive training in natural settings. Many of the criticisms presented in the four commentaries published in this issue appear to be based on a misunderstanding of our procedure, or questionable postulates. We maintain that the Musical Stroop Effect offers promising possibilities for further research on automaticity, with the main proviso that the current procedure makes it difficult to tease apart facilitation and interference.

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