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The Emotional Stroop Task: Assessing Cognitive Performance under Exposure to Emotional Content

The emotional Stroop effect (ESE) is the result of longer naming latencies to ink colors of emotion words than to ink colors of neutral words. The ...

Ariel University

In the laboratory, people classify the color of emotion-laden words slower than they do that of neutral words, the emotional Stroop effect. Outside the laboratory, people react to features of emotion-laden stimuli or threatening stimuli faster than they do to those of neutral stimuli. A possible resolution to the conundrum implicates the counternatural response demands imposed in the laboratory that do not, as a rule, provide for avoidance in the face of threat. In 2 experiments we show that when such an option is provided in the laboratory, the response latencies follow those observed in real life. These results challenge the dominant attention theory offered for the emotional Stroop effect because this theory is indifferent to the vital approach-avoidance distinction.

Avoiding the approach trap: a response bias theory of the emotional Stroop effect.

It takes people longer to name the ink colour of emotion or threat words than that of neutral words, the emotional Stroop effect (ESE). In three experiments with normal and patient populations, we show that the ESE is a special case of a generic attention model and effect entailed in Garner's speeded classification paradigm. Guided by the Garner model we demonstrate that task-irrelevant dimensions that differ in salience can produce the ESE and mimic it with neutral stimuli. When each word appears in a constant colour, as mandated in the correlation condition of the Garner design, the ESE is eliminated. This important result is consistent with the attention account of the ESE. We conclude that when emotion stimuli appear in a random fashion they interfere with task performance. However, when emotion stimuli are correlated with features of the ongoing task they help task performance not least due to their extreme salience.

When emotion does and does not impair performance: a Garner theory of the emotional Stroop effect.

Sustained effects of emotion are well known in everyday experience. Surprisingly, such effects are seldom recorded in laboratory studies of the emotional Stroop task, in which participants name the color of emotion and neutral words. Color performance is more sluggish with emotion words than with neutral words, the emotional Stroop effect (ESE). The ESE is not sensitive to the order in which the two groups of words are presented, so the effect of exposure to emotion words does not extend to disrupting performance in a subsequent block with neutral words. We attribute this absence of a sustained effect to habituation engendered by excessive repetition of the experimental stimuli. In a series of four experiments, we showed that sustained effects do occur when habituation is removed, and we also showed that the massive exposure to negative stimuli within the ESE paradigm induces a commensurately negative mood. A novel perspective is offered, in which the ESE is considered a special case of mood induction.

Is the emotional Stroop task a special case of mood induction? Evidence from sustained effects of attention under emotion.

The production effect is the difference in memory favoring words read aloud relative to words read silently during study. According to a currently popular explanation, the distinctiveness of aloud words relative to silent words at the time of encoding underlies the better memory for the former. This distinctiveness is attributable to the additional dimension(s) of encoding for the aloud items that can be subsequently used during retrieval. In this study we argue that encoding distinctiveness is not the sole source of distinctiveness and that, in fact, there is an independent source of distinctiveness, statistical distinctiveness, which may or may not work in harmony with encoding distinctiveness in influencing memory. Statistical distinctiveness refers to the relative size of a subset of items marked by a(ny) unique property. Silently read words can carry statistical distinctiveness if they form a salient minority on the background of a majority of vocalized words. We show that, when the two sources are placed in opposition, statistical distinctiveness modifies the PE in a profound way.

The production effect in memory: multiple species of distinctiveness.

The 'Production Effect' (PE) refers to a memory advantage for items studied aloud over items studied silently. Thus, vocalizing may serve as a mnemonic that can be used to assist learners in improving their memory for new concepts. Although many other types of mnemonic have been suggested in the literature, the PE seems especially appropriate for young children, as it does not involve literacy skills. The present study is a first investigation of the PE in children. In two experiments we tested five-year-olds in a PE paradigm using pictures of objects as stimuli. In Experiment 1, pictures of familiar objects were presented to be remembered, and in Experiment 2 we used pictures of unfamiliar objects (evaluating new vocabulary acquisition). In both experiments we showed a memory advantage for vocally produced words ('look and say') over other types of learning ('look', 'look and listen'), suggesting the PE as a prominent memory and learning tool.

The production effect in memory: a prominent mnemonic in children.

The production effect (PE) documents the advantage in memory performance for words that are read aloud during study, rather than words that are read silently. Until now, the PE was examined in the visual modality, as the participants read the study words. In the present study, we extended the PE phenomenon and used the auditory modality at study. This novel methodology provides a critical test of the distinctiveness account. Accordingly, the participants heard the study words and learned them by vocal production (saying aloud) or by writing, followed by a free recall test. The use of the auditory modality yielded a memory advantage for words that were written during study over words that were vocally produced. We explain this result in light of the encoding distinctiveness account, suggesting that the PE is determined by the number of different encoding processes involved in learning, emphasising the essential role of active production.

Auditioning the distinctiveness account: Expanding the production effect to the auditory modality reveals the superiority of writing over vocalising.

Study modality (visual, auditory) of words as well as production mode (reading aloud, writing down) have been shown to influence the production effect (PE). When study words are presented visually, reading them aloud yields superior memory. However, when the same study words are presented aurally, writing them down leads to superior memory. Missing in PE studies is the variable of retrieval mode (written, aloud), which was addressed in the present study. In a pair of experiments, we manipulated the 3 variables-study modality, production mode, and retrieval mode-in a factorial fashion. With visual study, aloud production mode (vocalizing) was found to be superior to written production, in both retrieval modes (written and aloud). However, the difference between the productions was significantly smaller in the aloud retrieval mode relative to the written retrieval mode. With auditory study, written production mode was superior to aloud production mode, in the written as well as in the aloud retrieval modes. Here, the difference between the productions was significantly smaller in the written relative to the aloud retrieval mode. In other words, the difference between productions was smaller for the retrieval mode that matched the superior production. We interpret these findings using a retrieval-cost account. (PsycINFO Database Record

Yaniv Mama

Department of Behavioral Sciences

Ariel University

The Emotional Stroop Task: Assessing Cognitive Performance under Exposure to Emotional Content

Yaniv Mama

.css-o250i3{font-size:18px;font-family:Open Sans,sans-serif;line-height:21.6px;}Department of Behavioral Sciences

Ariel University

The Emotional Stroop Task: Assessing Cognitive Performance under Exposure to Emotional Content

Department of Behavioral Sciences