Temporal learning and list-level proportion congruency: Conflict adaptation or learning when to respond?

Abstract

The current report presents a temporal learning account as a potential alternative to the conflict adaptation account of listlevel proportion congruent effects in the Stroop paradigm. Specifically, retrieval of information about response times on previous trials influences a participant's preparedness to respond at a similar time on following trials. First, an adaptation of the Parallel Episodic Processing (PEP) model is presented, and a list-level effect is produced with a temporal learning mechanism. Next, linear mixed effect model analyses show that temporal learning biases are present in list-level proportion congruent data. A non-conflict experiment is then presented in which a list-level effect is observed with a contrast, rather than congruency, manipulation. Analyses of the experimental and simulated data could not, however, provide a clear picture of whether temporal learning was the sole contributor to the list-level proportion congruent effect. These results do, however, demonstrate that caution is warranted when interpreting list-level proportion congruent effects. © 2013 James R. Schmidt.