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Easy to process, hard to control: Transient and sustained processing fluency impairs cognitive control adjustments to
Gonçalo A Oliveira1,2, Miguel Remondes2, Teresa Garcia-Marques1,3
1ISPA-William James Center for Research, Lisboa, Portugal.
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology (2006)
|February 21, 2023
Summary
Easy processing can trick your brain into lowering cognitive control, leading to more errors. This study shows how feelings of fluency can impair adaptive control adjustments, impacting performance.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Decision Making
Background:
- Cognitive control relies on monitoring systems, often associated with negative affective cues.
- Existing models suggest negative feedback triggers regulatory adjustments.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if positive feelings of processing fluency can lead to maladaptive cognitive control adjustments.
- To examine how ease-of-processing influences both macro- and micro-level control adjustments.
Main Methods:
- A Stroop-like task was employed, manipulating trial congruence and perceptual fluency.
- Pseudo-randomization within congruence proportions maximized discrepancy and fluency effects.
- Behavioral data (error rates, reaction times) were analyzed.
Main Results:
- Participants made more fast errors on easy-to-read incongruent trials in a mostly congruent context.
- In a mostly incongruent context, errors increased on incongruent trials following congruent trial facilitation.
- Processing fluency was linked to reduced cognitive control and failed conflict adaptation.
Conclusions:
- Positive processing fluency can act as a cue to downregulate cognitive control.
- Both transient and sustained fluency can impair adaptive control adjustments.
- This highlights a potential mechanism for maladaptive decision-making under conditions of perceived ease.
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