Semantic congruity and expectancy in symbolic judgments
Summary
The semantic-congruity effect in comparative judgment is not primarily driven by expectancy. Instead, it largely depends on the relationship between stimuli and task instructions.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Experimental Psychology
Background:
- The semantic-congruity effect influences comparative judgment tasks.
- Previous explanations have considered expectancy effects like priming or perceptual set.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of expectancy effects in the semantic-congruity effect.
- To determine if priming, perceptual set, or task strategies explain the semantic-congruity effect.
Main Methods:
- Experiment 1 combined a lexical-decision task with a comparative-judgment task.
- Experiments 2-4 manipulated the timing of instructions relative to stimulus presentation.
- Safeguards were implemented to prevent artifacts in the experimental paradigm.
Main Results:
- Neither automatic semantic priming nor deliberate preparation accounted for the congruity effect.
- The semantic-congruity effect persisted regardless of instruction timing.
- Results contradicted the prediction that expectancy fully explains the effect.
Conclusions:
- Expectancy effects play a minimal role in the semantic-congruity effect.
- The relationship between stimuli and instructions is the primary determinant of the semantic-congruity effect.
- Expectancy does not significantly explain the semantic-congruity effect when stimuli are not degraded.
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