Analyzing distributional properties of interference effects across modalities: chances and challenges

Area of Science:

• Cognitive psychology
• Experimental psychology
• Human performance

Background:

• Traditional analysis of Stroop and Simon effects focuses on mean response time (RT), overlooking RT distribution shapes.
• Mean RT analysis provides limited information on how interference effects vary across conditions and tasks.
• Delta plots offer a method to analyze RT distributions, revealing more nuanced data.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review research on the distributional properties of auditory and visual interference effects.
• To extend previous reviews by including distributional analyses of Stroop effects alongside Simon effects.
• To highlight the utility of distributional analyses for understanding cognitive interference.

Main Methods:

• Review of existing literature on Stroop and Simon effects with a focus on distributional analyses.
• Application of delta plots to examine response time distributions.
• Inclusion of studies analyzing sequential effects (congruency of previous trial).

Main Results:

• Distributional analyses reveal similarities and differences in interference effects across tasks (Simon, Stroop).
• Analysis across sensory modalities (auditory and visual) highlights shared and distinct patterns.
• Sequential analyses of RT distributions capture crucial aspects of interference effects.

Conclusions:

• Distributional analyses, particularly with delta plots, provide a richer understanding of cognitive interference than mean RTs.
• This approach effectively compares interference effects across different tasks and sensory modalities.
• While valuable, distributional analysis methods present some challenges that warrant further investigation.