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Projekt Druckansicht

Sensorische, postperzeptuelle und hemisphärenspezifische Anpassung an Bedingungen konflikthaltiger Stimulation

Antragsteller Professor Dr. Thomas Jacobsen, seit 12/2015
Fachliche Zuordnung Allgemeine, Kognitive und Mathematische Psychologie
Förderung Förderung von 2011 bis 2018
Projektkennung Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Projektnummer 191335191
 
Erstellungsjahr 2019

Zusammenfassung der Projektergebnisse

Numerous examples demonstrate that irrelevant stimuli, which are not needed for goal achievement, are frequently processed up to a level at which they affect behavioral responses, despite the fact that they are easily discernible as being irrelevant and processing thereof is likely detrimental to task performance. This is most clearly seen in so-called interference or conflict tasks, which involve the presentation of two-component stimuli, one component providing the information necessary for solving the task (i.e., the target), such as the print color of a word in a color naming (Stroop) task, and one component potentially related to an incorrect response (i.e., the distractor), such as the word identity (which may denote a different color). Such findings have been considered evidence for limits in selective attention, that is, an inability to completely ignore irrelevant stimuli (at least under certain circumstances), brought about by structural features of the human information processing systems. More recent evidence suggests, however, that the impact of distractor stimuli on behavioral responses is positively related to their overall utility, supporting theories of strategic adjustment of attention (i.e., a higher/lower degree of processing distractors the more they can be assumed to facilitate/impair performance). Our project investigated various aspects of putative strategic adjustments of attention. One major objective of our project related to the fact that hitherto used indicators of attentional adjustment (both performance data and physiological data) cannot be considered unconfounded measures, raising the possibility of alternative (non-attentional) explanations. We therefore (a) developed experimental procedures (i.e., a methodology of probe tasks) tackling a fundamental problem that underlies all confounds discussed in the literature and (b) used physiological measures which should, arguably, not be affected by processes assumed by alternative explanations (i.e., early, distractor-elicited sensory potentials in the EEG). Although these methods could not confirm extant assumptions of attentional adjustment for all of the core phenomena of this research field, they yielded substantial evidence for attentional adjustment in some of our studies, extending previous research not only in terms of controlling experimental confounds but also with regard to specifying the processes involved in more detail. Our results suggest, for example, both perceptual and non-perceptual types of attentional adjustment as well as mechanisms of regulation of premature distractor-based response preparation. Overall, our project contributed to an emerging view of varying configurations of specialized mental processes involved in the control of relevant and irrelevant stimulus information, depending on the precise task demands and contextual settings.

Projektbezogene Publikationen (Auswahl)

 
 

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