Conflict Paradigms and the Instance Theory of Automatization

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This research will investigate the role of attention in controlling and overcoming conflict engendered by automatic processing of irrelevant information. Conflict from automatic processing is apparent in real-world situations in which our current goals run counter to established habits, such as departing from the usual route home to stop at the store. The Stroop task provides a laboratory example: People are asked to name the color in which words are presented and must overcome the automatic reading response when the word itself names a conflicting color (e.g., RED written in green). Performance on the Stroop task and its many variations (e.g., deciding whether 3 + 4 = 12 is true) provides a major data base which theories of attention and automaticity must explain. This research will apply Logan's instance theory of automaticity, developed to account for skill acquisition, to conflict paradigms. The instance theory assumes that novice performance is based on a general algorithm for performing the task and that, with practice, the algorithm is gradually replaced by memory for specific solutions. This learning process is modeled in the theory in a precise mathematical fashion. The instance theory accounts for learning better than other theories of skill acquisition because it accounts for changes in the entire distribution of reaction times, not just average performance. As it stands, the instance theory makes incorrect predictions in conflict paradigms, predicting no slowing of reaction time and an error rate close to 100%, in contrast to vast numbers of experiments which show a substantial slowing in reaction time and a slight increase in error rate. This research will develop the theory to overcome this problem and then test the new developments. Theory development will involve assuming two different representations, a perceptual representation and a conceptual representation, that are bound together by the process of attention. The research will involve three series of experiments. The first will examine the process that binds perceptual representations to conceptual representations; the second will separate perceptual and conceptual representations; and the third will examine long- term consequences of the binding process by examining learning effects. The research will investigate the binding process theoretically using computer simulations of the learning process that compare the instance theory with other current theories of skill acquisition.