A mouse-tracking study of the composite nature of the Stroop effect at the level of response execution

Abstract

By forcing selection into response execution processes, the present mouse-tracking study investigated whether the ongoing process of response selection in the colour-word Stroop task is influenced by conflict and facilitation at both the level of response and stimulus. Mouse-tracking measures including partial errors provided credible evidence that both response and semantic conflict (i.e., distinct constituents of interference) contribute to the overall Stroop interference effect even after a response has been initiated. This contribution was also observed for the overall facilitation effect (that was credibly decomposed into response and semantic components in response times but not in mouse deviation measures). These results run counter to the dominant single-stage response competition models that currently fail to explain: 1) the expression of Stroop effects in measures of response execution and; 2) the composite nature of both interference and facilitation. By showing that Stroop effects–originating from multiple levels of processing–can cascade into movement parameters, the present study revealed the potential overlap between selection and execution process. It therefore calls for further theoretical efforts to account for when, where and under what conditions Stroop effects originating from different loci are controlled.