scholarly journals Oxytocin impedes the effect of the word blindness post-hypnotic suggestion on Stroop task performance

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 895-899 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin A. Parris ◽  
Zoltan Dienes ◽  
Sarah Bate ◽  
Stace Gothard
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bence Palfi ◽  
Ben Parris ◽  
Anthony Collins ◽  
Zoltan Dienes

A remarkable example of reducing Stroop interference is provided by the word blindness post-hypnotic suggestion (a suggestion to see words as meaningless during the Stroop task). This suggestion has been repeatedly demonstrated to halve Stroop interference when it is given to highly hypnotisable individuals. In order to explore how highly hypnotisable people manage to reduce Stroop interference when they respond to the word blindness suggestion, we tested four candidate strategies in two experiments outside of the hypnotic context. A strategy of looking-away from the target words, and a strategy of visual blurring demonstrated compelling evidence for substantially reducing Stroop interference in both experiments. However, the pattern of results produced by these strategies did not match those of the word blindness suggestion. Crucially, neither looking-away nor visual blurring managed to speed up incongruent responses, suggesting that neither of these strategies are likely underlying mechanisms of the word blindness suggestion. Although the current results did not unravel the mystery of the word blindness suggestion, they showed that there are multiple voluntary ways through which participants can dramatically reduce Stroop interference.


Author(s):  
Benjamin A. Parris ◽  
Michael G. Wadsley ◽  
Gizem Arabaci ◽  
Nabil Hasshim ◽  
Maria Augustinova ◽  
...  

AbstractPrevious work investigating the effect of rTMS of left Dorso-Lateral Prefrontal Cortex (DLPFC) on Stroop task performance reports no changes to the Stroop effect but reduced reaction times on both congruent and incongruent trials relative to sham stimulation; an effect attributed to an enhanced attentional (or task) set for colour classification. The present study tested this account by investigating whether, relative to vertex stimulation, rTMS of the left DLPFC modifies task conflict, a form of conflict that arises when task sets for colour classification and word reading compete, given that this particular type of conflict would be reduced by an enhanced task set for colour classification. Furthermore, the present study included measures of other forms of conflict present in the Stroop task (response and semantic conflict), the potential effects on which would have been hidden in previous studies employing only incongruent and congruent stimuli. Our data showed that left DLPFC stimulation had no effect on the magnitude of task conflict, nor did it affect response, semantic or overall conflict (where the null is supported by sensitive Bayes Factors in most cases). However, consistent with previous research left DLPFC stimulation had the general effect of reducing reaction times. We, therefore, show for the first time that relative to real vertex stimulation left DLPFC stimulation does not modify Stroop interference. Alternative accounts of the role of the left DLPFC in Stroop task performance in which it either modifies response thresholds or facilitates responding by keeping the correct response keys active in working memory are discussed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 345-354 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina C. Wimmer ◽  
Lenard Dome ◽  
Peter J. B. Hancock ◽  
Thomas Wennekers

Abstract. The aim was to quantify ego depletion and measure its effect on inhibitory control. Adults ( N = 523) received the letter “e” cancellation ego depletion task and were subsequently tested on Stroop task performance. Difficulty of the cancellation task was systematically manipulated by modifying the text from semantically meaningful to non-meaningful sentences and words (Experiment 1) and by increasing ego depletion rule complexity (Experiment 2). Participants’ performance was affected by both text and rule manipulations. There was no relation between ego depletion task performance and subsequent Stroop performance. Thus, irrespective of the difficulty of the ego depletion task, Stroop performance was unaffected. The widely used cancellation task may not be a suitable inducer of ego depletion if ego depletion is considered as a lack of inhibitory control.


1996 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 309-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Edwards ◽  
Carolyn Brice ◽  
Catherine Craig ◽  
Rebecca Penri-Jones

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