A bimodal extension of the Eriksen flanker task
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A bimodal extension of the Eriksen flanker task Rolf Ulrich1
· Laura Prislan1 · Jeff Miller2
Accepted: 12 September 2020 © The Author(s) 2020
Abstract The Eriksen flanker task is a traditional conflict paradigm for studying the influence of task-irrelevant information on the processing of task-relevant information. In this task, participants are asked to respond to a visual target item (e.g., a letter) that is flanked by task-irrelevant items (e.g., also letters). Responses are typically faster and more accurate when the taskirrelevant information is response-congruent with the visual target than when it is incongruent. Several researchers have attributed the starting point of this flanker effect to poor selective filtering at a perceptual level (e.g., spotlight models), which subsequently produces response competition at post-perceptual stages. The present study examined whether a flanker-like effect could also be established within a bimodal analog of the flanker task with auditory irrelevant letters and visual target letters, which must be processed along different processing routes. The results of two experiments revealed that a flanker-like effect is also present with bimodal stimuli. In contrast to the unimodal flanker task, however, the effect only emerged when flankers and targets shared the same letter name, but not when they were different letters mapped onto the same response. We conclude that the auditory flankers can influence the time needed to recognize visual targets but do not directly activate their associated responses. Keywords Conflict tasks · Eriksen flanker task · Auditory flankers · Bimodal stimulation Humans are able to attend selectively to particular information while ignoring sources of irrelevant information that impinge on the sensory system at any instant of time. The issue of to what extent unattended information is processed has been an important topic in research on selective attention, and subtle experimental tasks have been developed to address it (see Pashler, 1998). One of the most influential experimental tools for investigating the cognitive mechanisms of selective attention was introduced by Barbara A. Eriksen and Charles W. Eriksen in 1974. In this choice reaction-time (RT) task, participants are usually asked to make a speeded response to a visual target item that is flanked by task-irrelevant items. For instance, the target letters S and H may require left and Rolf Ulrich
[email protected] Jeff Miller [email protected] 1
2
Department of Psychology, University of T¨ubingen, Schleichstr. 4, 72076 T¨ubingen, Germany Department of Psychology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
right responses, respectively. In congruent trials, the flanker items match the identity of the target item (e.g., SSS S SSS), whereas in incongruent trials, the flankers match the identity of the alternative target item (e.g., HHH S HHH). Responses are typically faster and more accurate in congruent than incongruent trials, and similar effects of irrelevant information on the p
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