Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 25, 2026
05:31
Examining Bilingual Language Control Using the Stroop Task
Published on: February 26, 2020
Decreasing the proportion of conflict does not help to exploit congruency cues in a Stroop task
Luis Jiménez1, David Gallego1, María José Lorda2
1IPsiUS and Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
Frontiers in Cognition
|June 24, 2026
Summary
People struggle to adjust cognitive control based on explicit cues, even when task demands change. This difficulty persists regardless of cue timing or conflict frequency, highlighting limitations in adaptive control.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Human Behavior
Background:
- Humans can regulate cognitive control based on previous trial demands and conflict frequency.
- However, adapting to explicit cues predicting control levels is more limited than previously thought.
- Previous studies show cueing effects depend on cue presentation timing (inter-trial vs. preceding trial).
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the boundary conditions of sequential cueing effects on cognitive control.
- To examine how manipulating conflict trial proportions influences adaptive control.
- To determine if explicit cues are effectively used to adjust cognitive control parameters.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a Stroop task with manipulated proportions of high-conflict trials (increased or decreased).
- Investigated trial-by-trial cueing effects on cognitive control.
- Examined cueing effects when cues were presented via neutral trials to isolate cue information.
Main Results:
- No significant effect of trial-by-trial cueing was observed, irrespective of conflict proportion changes.
- Cueing effects were absent when cues were presented via neutral trials.
- Explicit sequential cues did not reliably guide the adjustment of cognitive control.
Conclusions:
- Adjusting cognitive control parameters based on explicit sequential cues is challenging.
- The ability to adapt control 'on the fly' is limited, even with clear cueing.
- Findings underscore the difficulties in leveraging explicit cues for dynamic cognitive regulation.
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