When arrows behave like eyes: Reversal of spatial stroop interference by visual masking

The Reversed Congruency Effect (RCE) typically observed with gaze targets has been rarely demonstrated with non-social stimuli like arrows targets. In a novel approach, we conducted two pre-registered experiments to investigate whether the RCE can be elicited using non-social stimuli (arrows) when directional information is visually masked. Participants performed a spatial Stroop task with arrows varying in perceptual complexity due to overlapping visual masks. Direction and spatial location were either congruent or incongruent. Remarkably, highly masked arrows elicited an RCE, with faster responses on incongruent trials. Distributional analyses showed reduced interference among the fastest responses and larger RCE in middle quantiles. Additionally, increased errors for both congruent and incongruent conditions were observed in the fastest responses, with congruent trials showing higher error rates, as previously observed with gaze targets. These findings suggest that the RCE reflects a dynamic interplay between early response capture and inhibitory control, shaped by the visual features of masked stimuli. Critically, they raise the possibility that similar perceptual constraints contribute to the RCE observed with gaze targets, offering a potential non-social mechanism underlying this effect. Our results highlight how visual complexity can modulate automatic activation and control processes, underscoring the value of distributional methods for revealing the temporal dynamics of interference.