Response time distributions and the Stroop Task: a test of the Cohen, Dunbar, and McClelland (1990) model

Cohen, Dunbar, and McClelland's (1990) model was tested for Strooplike interference tasks by studying the shape of the distribution of response latencies produced by Ss and by the model. The model correctly anticipates changes in mean response latency (M(RT)) across congruent and incongruent conditions. It does not, however, correctly anticipate changes in the shape of the distributions, even though changes in the shape of the distributions underlie the changes in M(RT). Thus the model predicts M(RT) successfully but for the wrong reason. It is concluded that the model is not an adequate account of Ss' performance in the Stroop task.