The contribution of difficulty of an irrelevant task to task conflict

Abstract

In the standard colour-word Stroop task, participants are presented with colour words and required to respond to their colour while ignoring their meaning. Two types of conflict might occur in such experiments: information conflict and task conflict. Information conflict reflects the processing of two contradicting pieces of information and is indicated by shorter reaction times (RTs) in congruent than in incongruent trials. Task conflict reflects the additional effort associated with performing two tasks, as opposed to one, and is indicated by shorter RTs in neutral trials than in congruent trials (termed reverse facilitation). While information conflict is commonly seen in Stroop and Stroop-like tasks, task conflict is rarely observed. In the present study, participants were presented with coloured segments that, by applying Gestalt principles, could be perceived as colour words. We found that incongruent trials were slower than congruent trials, suggesting that participants successfully perceived the colour words, which led to involuntary reading. In addition, reversed facilitation was found so that neutral trials (i.e., trials that only consist of one task) were faster than congruent trials (as well as incongruent trials; both consist of two tasks). The presence of both interference from the incongruent trials and reverse facilitation suggests that involuntary reading could also occur in scenarios requiring cognitive effort.