The flexibility of context-specific control: Evidence for context-driven generalization of item-specific control settings

Abstract

In two experiments we address an ongoing debate concerning the processes driving context-driven modulations to the Stroop effect (Crump, Gong, & Milliken, 2006). In particular, we demonstrate that context-driven processes can modulate the size of the Stroop effect for frequency-unbiased item types. We also clarify the role of item frequency in producing context-driven modulations to the Stroop effect. Taken together, our results provide unambiguous support for the claim that contextual processing can impart fast and flexible control over the operation of selective attention processes during online performance.

Keywords:

• Stroop
• Cognitive control
• Contextual cueing
• Generalization
• Attention

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Graduate Scholarship to M. J. C. C. and a research grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to B. M. This research was carried out as part of Matthew Crump's doctoral studies.

Notes

¹ For a more comprehensive introduction to the kinds of processes potentially mediating the CSPC Stroop effect, and other proportion congruent effects, please refer to the introduction section contained in Crump, Vaquero, and Milliken (2008).