Sequential Effects on Reaction Time Distributions: Commonalities and Differences Across Paradigms

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Experimental Psychology
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Response time (RT) in cognitive tasks is influenced by preceding trial characteristics.
• Sequential effects are typically studied within single paradigms, limiting cross-paradigm comparisons.
• Theoretical accounts of sequential effects show cross-paradigm similarities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically compare sequential effects across different cognitive paradigms.
• To investigate shared and paradigm-specific cognitive processes underlying sequential effects.
• To determine relationships between sequential effects in visual search, two-choice RT, interference, and task-switching.

Main Methods:

• Conducted an experiment comparing sequential effects across visual search, two-choice RT, interference, and task-switching paradigms.
• Employed methods to maximize stimulus and response similarity across paradigms.
• Analyzed RT distributions using descriptive (ex-Gaussian) and process-oriented (diffusion models) methods.

Main Results:

• Observed significant empirical similarities and differences in sequential effects across paradigms.
• Found variations in sequential effects within single paradigms across different conditions.
• Identified varying degrees of similarity between sequential effects for different paradigm pairs.

Conclusions:

• Some cognitive processes driving sequential effects are shared across paradigms.
• Other cognitive processes underlying sequential effects appear to be paradigm-specific.
• This suggests a complex interplay of general and specific mechanisms in sequential processing.