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Retrieval01:12

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Retrieval is the process of getting information out of memory storage and back into conscious awareness. This ability is essential for daily tasks like brushing hair and teeth, driving to work, and performing job duties. Retrieval occurs in three ways: recall, recognition, and relearning.
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Methods to Explore the Influence of Top-down Visual Processes on Motor Behavior
09:49

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Published on: April 16, 2014

Top-down versus bottom-up: when instructions overcome automatic retrieval.

Florian Waszak1, Roland Pfister, Andrea Kiesel

  • 1Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 75270, Paris, France. f.waszak@gmx.net

Psychological Research
|October 16, 2012
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Top-down control states modulate automatic stimulus-response (S-R) translation. This research shows that instructed S-R mapping influences how automatic S-R associations are retrieved, impacting performance.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Human action research

Background:

  • Human action involves controlled and automatic processes transforming stimuli into motor actions.
  • Existing research often focuses on conflict resolution between these processes.
  • The influence of top-down control on automatic stimulus-response (S-R) translation remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how top-down control states influence automatic stimulus-response (S-R) translation.
  • To independently manipulate top-down control (instructed S-R mapping) and automatic processing (S-R memory retrieval).

Main Methods:

  • Employed a color/shape task-switching paradigm.
  • Compared cross-talk from distractor stimuli under conditions where instructed S-R mapping matched or mismatched compiled S-R associations.
  • Measured reaction times (RTs) and error rates.

Main Results:

  • Distractors with mismatched instructed mapping and compiled S-R associations did not yield cross-talk in RTs.
  • These mismatched distractors even showed reversed cross-talk in error rates.
  • Demonstrated that automatic S-R retrieval is modulated by top-down control states.

Conclusions:

  • Automatic stimulus-response (S-R) retrieval is not independent but is actively modulated by top-down control states.
  • Top-down control states can override or alter the influence of automatic S-R associations.
  • Findings advance understanding of the interplay between conscious control and automatic processes in human action.