Neural Dynamics of Conflict Control in Working Memory

Abstract Attention and working memory (WM) have classically been considered as two separate cognitive functions, but more recent theories have conceptualized them as operating on shared representations and being distinguished primarily by whether attention is directed internally (WM) or externally (attention, traditionally defined). Supporting this idea, a recent behavioral study documented a “WM Stroop effect,” showing that maintaining a color word in WM impacts perceptual color-naming performance to the same degree as presenting the color word externally in the classic Stroop task. Here, we employed ERPs to examine the neural processes underlying this WM Stroop task compared to those in the classic Stroop and in a WM-control task. Based on the assumption that holding a color word in WM would (pre-)activate the same color representation as by externally presenting that color word, we hypothesized that the neural cascade of conflict–control processes would occur more rapidly in the WM Stroop than in the classic Stroop task. Our behavioral results replicated equivalent interference behavioral effects for the WM and classic Stroop tasks. Importantly, however, the ERP signatures of conflict detection and resolution displayed substantially shorter latencies in the WM Stroop task. Moreover, delay-period conflict in the WM Stroop task, but not in the WM control task, impacted the ERP and performance measures for the WM probe stimuli. Together, these findings provide new insights into how the brain processes conflict between internal representations and external stimuli, and they support the view of shared representations between internally held WM content and attentional processing of external stimuli.

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Color Priming Affects Stroop Interference

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.2466/pms.1983.56.2.643 ◽

1983 ◽

Vol 56 (2) ◽

pp. 643-651 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Lucinda McClain

Keyword(s):

Stroop Task ◽

Priming Effect ◽

Word Reading ◽

Color Word ◽

Color Naming ◽

Stroop Interference ◽

Relative Speed ◽

Discrete Trials ◽

Color Priming

The effect of prior word and/or color activation on subsequent color naming was examined in a discrete-trials Stroop task. Both word and color primes increased color-word interference, and the magnitude of the priming effect increased as the number of priming dimensions increased. The maximal interference usually produced by incongruent Stroop stimuli was reduced when such stimuli were preceded by primes which activated both word and color dimensions. The results were discussed in terms of models which attribute color-word interference to the relative speed of word reading and color naming.

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Is source information automatically available in working memory?

10.31234/osf.io/z83xd ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

HUI CHEN ◽

Richard Carlson ◽

Brad Wyble

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Color Word ◽

Long Term Memory ◽

Single Object ◽

Source Information ◽

Short Term ◽

Term Memory ◽

Color Representation ◽

Open Question

We often remember information without its source (e.g. word or picture format). This phenomenon has been studied extensively in long-term memory, but rarely in the context of short-term/working memory(WM). It is an open question as to whether source amnesia is the result of forgetting over a prolonged period of time. This study provided a series of striking and novel demonstrations showing participants’ inability to report the source of a color representation immediately after that color was used in a task, and stored in memory. These counterintuitive findings occurred when participants repeatedly judged the congruency between two color representations from one single object (i.e., color and identity of a color word) or two distinct objects (i.e., color of a square and identity of a color word) and then were unexpectedly asked to report the source of one color representation. These discoveries suggested that source information was not spontaneously stored into WM.

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Construct Validity of the Stroop Color-Word Test: Influence of Speed of Visual Search, Verbal Fluency, Working Memory, Cognitive Flexibility, and Conflict Monitoring

Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology ◽

10.1093/arclin/acaa034 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

José A Periáñez ◽

Genny Lubrini ◽

Ana García-Gutiérrez ◽

Marcos Ríos-Lago

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Visual Search ◽

Cognitive Flexibility ◽

Cognitive Processes ◽

Verbal Fluency ◽

Word Reading ◽

Color Word ◽

Color Naming ◽

Conflict Monitoring ◽

Cognitive Mechanisms

Abstract Objective 85 years after the description of the Stroop interference effect, there is still a lack of consensus regarding the cognitive constructs underlying scores from standardized versions of the test. The present work aimed to clarify the cognitive mechanisms underlying direct (word-reading, color-naming, and color-word) and derived scores (interference, difference, ratio, and relative scores) from Golden’s standardized version of the test. Method After a comprehensive review of the literature, five cognitive processes were selected for analysis: speed of visual search, phonemic verbal fluency, working memory, cognitive flexibility, and conflict monitoring. These constructs were operationalized by scoring five cognitive tasks (WAIS-IV Digit Symbol, phonemic verbal fluency [letter A], WAIS-IV Digit Span, TMT B-A, and reaction times to the incongruent condition of a computerized Stroop task, respectively). About 83 healthy individuals (mean age = 25.2 years) participated in the study. Correlation and regression analyses were used to clarify the contribution of the five cognitive processes on the prediction of Stroop scores. Results Data analyses revealed that Stroop word-reading reflected speed of visual search. Stroop color-naming reflected working memory and speed of visual search. Stroop color-word reflected working memory, conflict monitoring, and speed of visual search. Whereas the interference score was predicted by both conflict monitoring and working memory, the ratio score (color-word divided by color-naming) was predicted by conflict monitoring alone. Conclusion The present results will help neuropsychologists to interpret altered patient scores in terms of a failure of the cognitive mechanisms detailed here, benefitting from the solid background of preceding experimental work.

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Color Naming of Non-Color Word Stroop Task as a Dual-Task

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e633262013-647 ◽

2013 ◽

Author(s):

Michael Reynolds ◽

Claudio Mulatti ◽

Francesca Peressotti ◽

Remo Job ◽

Roberto Dell'Acqua

Keyword(s):

Stroop Task ◽

Dual Task ◽

Color Word ◽

Color Naming

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Is Source Information Automatically Available in Working Memory?

Psychological Science ◽

10.1177/0956797617742158 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 29 (4) ◽

pp. 645-655 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Hui Chen ◽

Richard A. Carlson ◽

Brad Wyble

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Color Word ◽

Long Term Memory ◽

Memory Encoding ◽

Single Object ◽

Source Information ◽

Short Term ◽

Term Memory ◽

Color Representation

We often remember information without its source (e.g., word or picture format). This phenomenon has been studied extensively in long-term memory but rarely in the context of short-term working memory (WM), which leaves open the question of whether source amnesia can result from a lack of memory encoding rather than forgetting. This study provided a series of striking and novel demonstrations showing participants’ inability to report the source of a color representation immediately after that color was used in a task and stored in memory. These counterintuitive findings occurred when participants repeatedly judged the congruency between two color representations from one single object (i.e., color and identity of a color word) or two distinct objects (i.e., color of a square and identity of a color word) and then were unexpectedly asked to report the source of one color representation. These discoveries suggest that source information is often not stored in WM.

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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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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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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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