Number symbols are processed more automatically than nonsymbolic numerical magnitudes: Findings from a Symbolic-Nonsymbolic Stroop task

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
H Moriah Sokolowski ◽  
Zachary Hawes ◽  
Tali Leibovich-Raveh ◽  
Daniel Ansari
Keyword(s):  
Stroop Task ◽  
Irrelevant Dimension ◽  
The Other ◽  
Numerical Distance ◽  
Counting Range ◽  
Numerical Magnitudes

Are number symbols (e.g., 3) and numerically equivalent quantities (e.g., •••) processed similarly or distinctly? If symbols and quantities are processed similarly then processing one format should activate the processing of the other. To experimentally probe this prediction, we assessed the processing of symbols and quantities using a Stroop-like paradigm. Participants (NStudy1 = 80, NStudy2 = 63) compared adjacent arrays of symbols (e.g., 4444 vs 333) and were instructed to indicate the side containing either the greater quantity of symbols (nonsymbolic task) or the numerically larger symbol (symbolic task). The tasks included congruent trials, where the greater symbol and quantity appeared on the same side (e.g. 333 vs. 4444), incongruent trials, where the greater symbol and quantity appeared on opposite sides (e.g. 3333 vs. 444), and neutral trials, where the irrelevant dimension was the same across both sides (e.g. 3333 vs. 333 for nonsymbolic; 333 vs. 444 for symbolic). The numerical distance between stimuli was systematically varied, and quantities in the subitizing and counting range were analyzed together and independently. Participants were more efficient comparing symbols and ignoring quantities, than comparing quantities and ignoring symbols. Similarly, while both symbols and quantities influenced each other as the irrelevant dimension, symbols influenced the processing of quantities more than quantities influenced the processing of symbols, especially for quantities in the counting rage. Additionally, symbols were less influenced by numerical distance than quantities, when acting as the relevant and irrelevant dimension. These findings suggest that symbols are processed differently and more automatically than quantities.

scholarly journals The Stroop Task Influences Product Evaluations

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom G. E. Damen
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Stroop Task ◽  
Cognitive Conflict ◽  
Bottled Water ◽  
The Other ◽  
Product Evaluations ◽  
Study Participants ◽  
Negative Signal

Cognitive conflict is considered to represent a psychologically negative signal. Indeed, a recent publication showed that cognitive conflict emerging from the Stroop task influences evaluations for neutral shapes that had become associated with conflict and non-conflict, respectively. Building on these findings, the present research investigates the degree to which Stroop conflict influences evaluations of actual products. In an experimental study, participants performed a Stroop task in which they responded to conflict trials (e.g., the word red presented in a blue font) as well as non-conflict trials (e.g., the word red presented in a red font). Participants were also presented with two pictures featuring bottled water brands: One brand was consistently presented after non-conflict trials; the other brand was consistently presented after conflict trials. When participants evaluated the products, the results showed they rated the product associated with Stroop conflict less favorably than the product associated with non-conflict; however, this effect only emerged when participants were thirsty. When participants were not thirsty, no differences emerged. The present findings add to the literature on cognitive conflict and negativity, suggesting that Stroop conflict can influence product evaluations when those products are goal relevant.

Effects of Thought Suppression on Subliminally and Supraliminally Presented Food-related Stimuli

2003 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 223-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter J.N. Dejonckheere ◽  
Caroline Braet ◽  
Barbara Soetens
Keyword(s):  
Attentional Bias ◽  
Stroop Task ◽  
Thought Suppression ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
The Other ◽  
Dietary Behaviour ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Modified Stroop ◽  
Experimental Group

AbstractThis study investigates whether hyperaccessibility occurs for supraliminally or subliminally presented sweets-related stimuli after prior suppression of thoughts about sweets. Thirty-three students (all female; 18—25 years old) participated in the experiment. In the first phase, half of the experimental group was instructed to suppress all sweets-related thoughts. The other participants were given control instructions. In the second phase, as part of a modified Stroop task, participants were asked to state the colour of a stimulus as quickly as possible. This stimulus could be presented either subliminally or supraliminally. In both conditions, neutral control words as well as sweets words were used. It was found that the participants in the suppression group, compared to those in the control group, showed attentional bias for the sweet-related suppressed thoughts, but that this effect was determined by the reaction times of subliminally presented sweets words. No differences were found for the control words. In addition, the study explored whether there was a relationship between thought suppression and dietary restraint attitudes. The link to dietary behaviour, however, remains unclear.

scholarly journals Health Effects of Waterpipe Tobacco Use: Getting the Public Health Message Just Right

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 1179173X1769605 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed Ali ◽  
Mohammed Jawad
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Promotion ◽  
Health Effects ◽  
Tobacco Product ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Health Messages ◽  
Waterpipe Tobacco Smoking ◽  
Numerical Magnitudes ◽  
Public Health Message

Many public health messages benchmark the harms of waterpipe tobacco against those of cigarettes, usually using numerical magnitudes of risk. This approach, although well intentioned, could be perceived as alarmist, damaging scientific credibility, and giving an unintended impression that one tobacco product is less harmful than the other. This commentary makes clear the harm waterpipe tobacco smoking poses to public health by describing its mechanism of use, consumption uptake, toxicologic profile, and documented health outcomes, as well as challenge existing thinking that toxicologic assessments are the most appropriate way to frame waterpipe tobacco health promotion messages. How can we describe the health effects of waterpipe tobacco without undermining its toxicity nor falling into the temptation of alarmist messaging? Several recommendations are provided.

scholarly journals Categorization training changes the visual representation of face identity

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabian Soto
Keyword(s):  
Category Learning ◽  
Irrelevant Dimension ◽  
The Other ◽  
One Dimension ◽  
Face Identification ◽  
Perceptual Representation ◽  
Face Identity ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Classification Images ◽  
Different Levels

Previous research suggests that learning to categorize faces along a new dimension changes the perceptual representation of that dimension, but little is known about how the representation of specific face identities changes after such category learning. Here, we trained participants to categorize faces that varied along two morphing dimensions. One dimension was relevant to the categorization task and the other was irrelevant. We used classification images to estimate the internal templates used to identify the two faces at the extremes of the relevant dimension, both before and after training, and at two different levels of the irrelevant dimension. Categorization training changed the internal templates used for face identification, even though identification and categorization tasks impose different demands on the observers. After categorization training, the internal templates became more invariant across changes in the irrelevant dimension. These results suggest that the representation of face identity can be modified by categorization experience.

scholarly journals Interference in the Shared-Stroop Task: A Comparison of Self- and Other-Monitoring

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin John Pickering ◽  
Janet Frances McLean ◽  
Chiara Gambi
Keyword(s):  
Stroop Task ◽  
The Other ◽  
Task Interference ◽  
Self Monitoring ◽  
Self And Other ◽  
Monitoring Task ◽  
Joint Task ◽  
Linguistic Representations

Co-acting participants represent and integrate each other’s actions, even when they are not required to monitor one another. However, monitoring the actions of a partner is an important component of successful interactions, and particularly of linguistic interactions. Moreover, monitoring others may rely on similar mechanisms to those that are involved in self-monitoring. In order to investigate the effect of monitoring on shared linguistic representations, we combined a monitoring task with the shared Stroop task. In the shared Stroop task, one participant named the colour of words in one colour (e.g., red) while ignoring stimuli in the other colour (e.g., green); the other participant either named the colour of words in the other colour or did not respond. Crucially, participants either had to provide feedback about the correctness of their partner’s response (Experiment 3) or did not (Experiment 2). The results showed that interference was greater when both participants responded than when they did not, but only when partners provided feedback. We argue that feedback increased joint task interference because in order to monitor their partner, participants had to represent their target utterance, and this representation interfered with self-monitoring of their own utterance.

scholarly journals Further insights into the operation of the Chinese number system: Competing effects of Arabic and Mandarin number formats

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (8) ◽  
pp. 1472-1483
Author(s):  
Philip T. Quinlan ◽  
Dale J. Cohen ◽  
Xingyu Liu
Keyword(s):  
Number System ◽  
The Other ◽  
Numerical Distance ◽  
Translation Process ◽  
Physical Similarity ◽  
Arabic Number

AbstractHere we report the results of a speeded relative quantity task with Chinese participants. On each trial a single numeral (the probe) was presented and the instructions were to respond as to whether it signified a quantity less than or greater than five (the standard). In separate blocks of trials, the numerals were presented either in Mandarin or in Arabic number formats. In addition to the standard influence of numerical distance, a significant predictor of performance was the degree of physical similarity between the probe and the standard as depicted in Mandarin. Additionally, competing effects of physical similarity, defined in terms of the Arabic number format, were also found. Critically the size of these different effects of physical similarity varied systematically across individuals such that larger effects of one compensated for smaller effects of the other. It is argued that the data favor accounts of processing that assume that different number formats access different format-specific representations of quantities. Moreover, for Chinese participants the default is to translate numerals into a Mandarin format prior to accessing quantity information. The efficacy of this translation process is itself influenced by a competing tendency to carry out a translation into Arabic format.

Attentional Guidance in Visual Attention

1993 ◽  
Vol 37 (19) ◽  
pp. 1378-1382 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Todd ◽  
Arthur F. Kramer
Keyword(s):  
Visual Attention ◽  
Attentional Capture ◽  
Irrelevant Dimension ◽  
Sudden Onset ◽  
The Other ◽  
Attentional Guidance ◽  
Task Irrelevant ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Relative Salience

Earlier research has shown that a task-irrelevant sudden onset of an object will capture or draw an observer's visual attention to that object's location (e.g., Yantis & Jonides, 1984). In the four experiments reported here, we explore the question of whether task-irrelevant properties other than sudden-onset may capture attention. Our results suggest that a uniquely colored or luminous object, as well as an irrelevant boundary, may indeed capture or guide attention, though apparently to a lesser degree than a sudden onset: it appears that the degree of attentional capture is dependent on the relative salience of the varied, irrelevant dimension. Whereas a sudden onset is very salient, a uniquely colored object, for example, is only salient relative to the other objects within view, both to the degree that it is different in hue from its neighbors and the number of neighbors from which it differs. The relationship of these findings to work in the fields of visual momentum and visual scanning is noted.

Stromatoporoids from the Famennian (Devonian) Wabamun Formation, Normandville oilfield, north–central Alberta, Canada

1988 ◽  
Vol 62 (03) ◽  
pp. 411-419 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin W. Stearn
Keyword(s):  
Patch Reef ◽  
Abundant Species ◽  
The Other ◽  
North Central ◽  
Biotic Crisis

Stromatoporoids are the principal framebuilding organisms in the patch reef that is part of the reservoir of the Normandville field. The reef is 10 m thick and 1.5 km2in area and demonstrates that stromatoporoids retained their ability to build reefal edifices into Famennian time despite the biotic crisis at the close of Frasnian time. The fauna is dominated by labechiids but includes three non-labechiid species. The most abundant species isStylostroma sinense(Dong) butLabechia palliseriStearn is also common. Both these species are highly variable and are described in terms of multiple phases that occur in a single skeleton. The other species described areClathrostromacf.C. jukkenseYavorsky,Gerronostromasp. (a columnar species), andStromatoporasp. The fauna belongs in Famennian/Strunian assemblage 2 as defined by Stearn et al. (1988).

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