Abstract
The present study was aimed at assessing whether focusing attention on a task-relevant part of a word prevents processing of its meaning. Participants performed a color-naming task on a prime word followed by lexical decision on a probe. Primes were words, which could contain an embedded color word (e.g., “redemption”) written in an incongruent color. Probes were either semantically related (e.g., “confession”) or unrelated (e.g., “production”) to the prime word. A Stroop effect emerged for color words appearing either in the initial or in the final position of the carrier word. A priming effect also emerged, with faster responses to probes semantically related to the prime. These results are evidence that focusing attention on part of a prime (i.e., the embedded color word) does not prevent the semantic processing of the entire word.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Besner D (2001) The myth of ballistic processing: evidence from stroop’s paradigm. Psychon Bull Rev 8:324–330
Besner D, Stolz JA (1999a) What kind of attention modulates the Stroop effect? Psychon Bull Rev 6:99–104
Besner D, Stolz JA (1999b) Unconsciously controlled processing: the Stroop effect reconsidered. Psychon Bull Rev 6:449–455
Besner D, Stolz JA, Boutilier C (1997) The Stroop effect and the myth of automaticity. Psychon Bull Rev 4:221–225
Brown TL, Gore CL, Carr TH (2002) Spatial attention and word recognition in Stroop color naming: is word recognition automatic? J Exp Psychol Gen 131:220–240. doi:10.1037/0096-3445.131.2.220
Catena A, Fuentes LJ, Tudela P (2002) Priming and interference effects can be dissociated in the Stroop task: new evidence in favor of the automaticity of word recognition. Psychon Bull Rev 9:113–118
Chiappe PR, Smith MC, Besner D (1996) Semantic priming in visual word recognition: activation blocking and domains of processing. Psychon Bull Rev 3:249–253
Danziger S, Estévez AF, Marí-Beffa P (2002) Stroop interference effects in partially colored Stroop words. Psychon Bull Rev 9:536–541
Fox E (1995) Negative priming from ignored distractors in visual selection: a review. Psychon Bull Rev 2:145–173
Houghton G, Tipper SP (1994) A model of inhibitory mechanisms in selective attention. In: Dagenbach D, Carr TH (eds) Inhibitory processes in attention, memory and language. Academic Press, San Diego, pp 53–112
Isel F, Bacri N (1999) Spoken-word recognition: the access to embedded words. Brain Lang 68:61–67. doi:10.1006/brln.1999.2087
Kornblum S (1994) The way irrelevant dimensions are processed depends on what they overlap with: the case of Stroop- and Simon-like stimuli. Psychol Res 56:130–135. doi:10.1007/BF00419699
MacLeod CM (1991) Half a century of research on the Stroop effect: an integrative review. Psychol Bull 109:163–203. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.109.2.163
MacNevin C, Besner D (2002) When are morphemic and semantic priming observed in visual word recognition? Can J Exp Psychol 56:112–119. doi:10.1037/h0087389
Manwell LA, Roberts MA, Besner D (2004) Single letter coloring and spatial cueing eliminates a semantic contribution to the Stroop effect. Psychon Bull Rev 11:458–462
Marí-Beffa P, Estévez AF, Danziger S (2000) Stroop interference and negative priming: problems with interferences from null results. Psychon Bull Rev 7:499–503
Marí-Beffa P, Valdés B, Cullen DJD, Catena A, Houghton G (2005) ERP analyses of task effects on semantic processing from words. Brain Res Cogn Brain Res 23:293–305. doi:10.1016/j.cognbrainres.2004.10.016
Marmurek HHC, Proctor C, Javor A (2006) Stroop-like serial position effects in color naming of words and nonwords. Exp Psychol 53:105–110. doi:10.1027/1618-3169.53.2.105
Neely JH (1991) Semantic priming effects in visual word recognition: a selective review of current findings and theories. In: Besner D, Humphreys GW (eds) Basic processes in reading: visual word recognition. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, pp 264–336
Neill WT (1997) Episodic retrieval in negative priming and repetition priming. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 23:1291–1305. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.23.6.1291
Neill WT, Valdes LA (1992) Persistence of negative priming: steady state or decay? J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 18:565–576. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.18.3.565
Istituto di Linguistica Computazionale CNR Pisa (1989) Corpus di Italiano scritto contemporaneo (A corpus of contemporary written Italian). Unpublished manuscript
Schneider W (1988) Micro experimental laboratory: an integrated system for IBM-PC compatibles. Behav Res Methods 20:206–217
Stolz JA, Besner D (1996) Role of set in visual word recognition: activation and activation blocking as non-automatic processes. J Exp Psychol Hum 22:1166–1177. doi:10.1037/0096-1523.22.5.1166
Stolz JA, Besner D (1998) Levels of representation in visual word recognition: a dissociation between morphemic and semantic processing. J Exp Psychol Hum 24:1642–1655
Stroop JR (1935) Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions. J Exp Psychol 18:643–661. doi:10.1037/h0054651
Vroomen J, de Gelder B (1997) Activation of embedded words in spoken word recognition. J Exp Psychol Hum 23:710–720. doi:10.1037/0096-1523.23.3.710
Acknowledgments
We wish to thank Derek Besner, Colin M. MacLeod, Paloma Marí-Beffa, Joseph Tzelgov, Cees van Leeuwen and an anonymous Reviewer for useful comments on an earlier version of the manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Appendix 1
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Iani, C., Job, R., Padovani, R. et al. Stroop effects on redemption and semantic effects on confession: simultaneous automatic activation of embedded and carrier words. Cogn Process 10, 327–334 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-009-0257-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-009-0257-z