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Examining Bilingual Language Control Using the Stroop Task
Published on: February 26, 2020
Judgments of discrete and continuous quantity: an illusory Stroop effect
1Department of Psychology, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT 06459, USA. hbarth@wesleyan.edu
Cognition
|November 1, 2008
Summary
Human and animal brains share a quantity processing system. A new "illusory-Stroop" hypothesis suggests area underestimation, not Stroop interference, explains task performance.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Comparative Psychology
- Animal Behavior
Background:
- Humans and animals share a nonverbal quantity processing system.
- The relationship between discrete and continuous quantity judgments is debated.
- Previous research suggested Stroop interference between quantity representations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the explanation for performance on tasks previously attributed to Stroop interference between discrete and continuous quantity.
- To propose and test the "illusory-Stroop" hypothesis as an alternative explanation.
Main Methods:
- Four experiments were conducted using modified Stroop-like tasks.
- Participants' performance on tasks involving discrete and continuous quantity judgments was analyzed.
Main Results:
- Task performance patterns initially appeared consistent with Stroop interference.
- However, Stroop interference effects were not found to be involved.
- Evidence supported the "illusory-Stroop" hypothesis, linking performance to area underestimation.
Conclusions:
- The "illusory-Stroop" hypothesis offers a more parsimonious explanation for observed phenomena.
- Findings challenge existing models of quantity processing and Stroop interference.
- Implications for cumulative area representation and large-set quantity processing are discussed.
