On the control of automatic processes: A parallel distributed processing account of the stroop effect

doi:10.1037/0033-295X.97.3.332

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On the control of automatic processes: A parallel distributed processing account of the stroop effect

Journal Article•DOI•

On the control of automatic processes: A parallel distributed processing account of the stroop effect

Jonathan D. Cohen¹, Kevin Dunbar², James L. McClelland¹•Institutions (2)

Carnegie Mellon University¹, McGill University²

01 Jul 1990-Psychological Review (American Psychological Association)-Vol. 97, Iss: 3, pp 332-361

TL;DR: A model of attention is presented within a parallel distributed processing framework, and it is proposed that the attributes of automaticity depend on the strength of a processing pathway and that strength increases with training.

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Abstract: : A growing body of evidence suggests that traditional views of automaticity are in need of revision. For example, automaticity has often been treated as an all-or-none phenomenon, and traditional theories have held that automatic processes are independent of attention. Yet recent empirial data suggests that automatic processes are continuous, and furthermore are subject to attentional control. In this paper we present a model of attention which addresses these issues. Using a parallel distributed processing framework we propose that the attributes of automaticity depend upon the strength of a process and that strength increases with training. Using the Stroop effect as an example, we show how automatic processes are continuous and emerge gradually with practice. Specifically, we present a computational model of the Stroop task which simulates the time course of processing as well as the effects of learning.

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Journal Article•DOI•

An integrative theory of prefrontal cortex function

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Earl K. Miller¹, Jonathan D. Cohen²•Institutions (2)

Massachusetts Institute of Technology¹, Princeton University²

01 Jan 2001-Annual Review of Neuroscience

TL;DR: It is proposed that cognitive control stems from the active maintenance of patterns of activity in the prefrontal cortex that represent goals and the means to achieve them, which provide bias signals to other brain structures whose net effect is to guide the flow of activity along neural pathways that establish the proper mappings between inputs, internal states, and outputs needed to perform a given task.

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Abstract: ▪ Abstract The prefrontal cortex has long been suspected to play an important role in cognitive control, in the ability to orchestrate thought and action in accordance with internal goals. Its neural basis, however, has remained a mystery. Here, we propose that cognitive control stems from the active maintenance of patterns of activity in the prefrontal cortex that represent goals and the means to achieve them. They provide bias signals to other brain structures whose net effect is to guide the flow of activity along neural pathways that establish the proper mappings between inputs, internal states, and outputs needed to perform a given task. We review neurophysiological, neurobiological, neuroimaging, and computational studies that support this theory and discuss its implications as well as further issues to be addressed

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10,943 citations

Cites background or methods from "On the control of automatic process..."

...F or p er so na l u se o nl y. P1: FXZ January 12, 2001 14:38 Annual Reviews AR121-07 PREFRONTAL FUNCTION 185 is a continuum, defined by the relative strength of the pathway supporting a taskrelevant process compared with those carrying competing information (Cohen et al 1990)....
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...Simulations using the Stroop model (Cohen et al 1990) capture detailed quantitative effects of practice both on measures of performance (e.g. power law improvements in speed of response) and concurrent changes in the reliance on control (e.g. Stroop interference)....
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...This principle is illustrated in its simplest form by a model of the Stroop task developed by Cohen et al (1990)....
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Journal Article•DOI•

Conflict monitoring and cognitive control.

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Matthew Botvinick, Todd S. Braver¹, Deanna M. Barch¹, Cameron S. Carter², Jonathan D. Cohen - Show less +1 more•Institutions (2)

University of Washington¹, University of Pittsburgh²

29 Jun 2001-Psychological Review

TL;DR: Two computational modeling studies are reported, serving to articulate the conflict monitoring hypothesis and examine its implications, including a feedback loop connecting conflict monitoring to cognitive control, and a number of important behavioral phenomena.

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Abstract: A neglected question regarding cognitive control is how control processes might detect situations calling for their involvement. The authors propose here that the demand for control may be evaluated in part by monitoring for conflicts in information processing. This hypothesis is supported by data concerning the anterior cingulate cortex, a brain area involved in cognitive control, which also appears to respond to the occurrence of conflict. The present article reports two computational modeling studies, serving to articulate the conflict monitoring hypothesis and examine its implications. The first study tests the sufficiency of the hypothesis to account for brain activation data, applying a measure of conflict to existing models of tasks shown to engage the anterior cingulate. The second study implements a feedback loop connecting conflict monitoring to cognitive control, using this to simulate a number of important behavioral phenomena.

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6,385 citations

Cites background or methods or result from "On the control of automatic process..."

...It also informs accounts that portray attention as serving to regulate the flow of information through the processing system, favoring flow into selected processing streams while helping to gate off others (Cohen et al., 1990; Desimone & Duncan, 1995; Norman & Shallice, 1986)....
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...…with placing a central limitation on human information-processing capacity: Allport (1987), in agreement with a number of other researchers (e.g., Cohen et al., 1990; Duncan, 1996; Mozer, 1991; Mozer & Sitton, 1998; Navon, 1985; Navon & Miller, 1987; Schneider & Detweiler, 1987), has argued that…...
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...This model is based on an earlier feed-forward model (Cohen et al., 1990), revised to include recurrent connections and interactive processing (both of which are ame-...
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...This model is based on an earlier feed-forward model (Cohen et al., 1990), revised to include recurrent connections and interactive processing (both of which are amenable to our measurement of conflict)....
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...Although this conflict is ultimately resolved in The effects of varying task-unit input were first explored in an earlier version of the model by Cohen et al. (1990)....
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Journal Article•DOI•

Half a century of research on the Stroop effect: an integrative review.

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Colin MacLeod¹•Institutions (1)

University of Toronto¹

01 Mar 1991-Psychological Bulletin

TL;DR: It is concluded that recent theories placing the explanatory weight on parallel processing of the irrelevant and the relevant dimensions are likely to be more sucessful than are earlier theories attempting to locate a single bottleneck in attention.

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Abstract: The literature on interference in the Stroop Color-Word Task, covering over 50 years and some 400 studies, is organized and reviewed. In so doing, a set of 18 reliable empirical finding is isolated that must be captured by any successful theory of the Stroop effect. Existing theoretical positions are summarized and evaluated in view of this critical evidence and the 2 major candidate theories ―relative speed of processing and automaticity of reading― are found to be wanting. It is concluded that recent theories placing the explanatory weight on parallel processing of the irrelevant and the relevant dimensions are likely to be more sucessful than are earlier theories attempting to locate a single bottleneck in attention

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5,172 citations

Cites background from "On the control of automatic process..."

...Cohen et al. (1990) simulated a number of key results, including not only the basic Stroop asymmetry, but also the fact that interference usually exceeds facilitation (e.g., Dunbar & MacLeod, 1984), the SPA effects of Glaser and Glaser (1982), the practice effects of MacLeod and Dunbar (1988), the responseset effects of Klein (1964), and other more general patterns such as the power law with practice (e....
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...The Cohen et al. (1990) model provides a promising avenue for testing ideas about attention, and is eminently testable in its own right....
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...Cohen et al. (1990) simulated a number of key results, including not only the basic Stroop asymmetry, but also the fact that interference usually exceeds facilitation (e....
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...Phaf, van der Heijden, and Hudson (1990) use an architectural property--direct connections between compatible stimuli and responses--instead of the differential weights favored by Cohen et al. (1990) to explain the Stroop effect....
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...Cohen et al. (1990) represented each potential input and output as a single unit in the model, although they pointed out that this one-to-one mapping is not essential....
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Journal Article•DOI•

A capacity theory of comprehension: individual differences in working memory.

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Marcel Adam Just¹, Patricia A. Carpenter¹•Institutions (1)

Carnegie Mellon University¹

01 Jan 1992-Psychological Review

TL;DR: A theory of the way working memory capacity constrains comprehension is proposed, which proposes that both processing and storage are mediated by activation and that the total amount of activation available in working memory varies among individuals.

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Abstract: A theory of the way working memory capacity constrains comprehension is proposed. The theory proposes that both processing and storage are mediated by activation and that the total amount of activation available in working memory varies among individuals. Individual differences in working memory capacity for language can account for qualitative and quantitative differences among college-age adults in several aspects of language comprehension. One aspect is syntactic modularity: The larger capacity of some individuals permits interaction among syntactic and pragmatic information, so that their syntactic processes are not informationally encapsulated. Another aspect is syntactic ambiguity: The larger capacity of some individuals permits them to maintain multiple interpretations. The theory is instantiated as a production system model in which the amount of activation available to the model affects how it adapts to the transient computational and storage demands that occur in comprehension.

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4,000 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

A theory of lexical access in speech production.

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Willem J. M. Levelt¹, Ardi Roelofs², Antje S. Meyer¹•Institutions (2)

Max Planck Society¹, University of Exeter²

01 Feb 1999-Behavioral and Brain Sciences

TL;DR: The model can handle some of the main observations in the domain of speech errors (the major empirical domain for most other theories of lexical access), and the theory opens new ways of approaching the cerebral organization of speech production by way of high-temporal-resolution imaging.

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Abstract: Preparing words in speech production is normally a fast and accurate process. We generate them two or three per second in fluent conversation; and overtly naming a clear picture of an object can easily be initiated within 600 msec after picture onset. The underlying process, however, is exceedingly complex. The theory reviewed in this target article analyzes this process as staged and feed-forward. After a first stage of conceptual preparation, word generation proceeds through lexical selection, morphological and phonological encoding, phonetic encoding, and articulation itself. In addition, the speaker exerts some degree of output control, by monitoring of self-produced internal and overt speech. The core of the theory, ranging from lexical selection to the initiation of phonetic encoding, is captured in a computational model, called WEAVER++. Both the theory and the computational model have been developed in interaction with reaction time experiments, particularly in picture naming or related word production paradigms, with the aim of accounting for the real-time processing in normal word production. A comprehensive review of theory, model, and experiments is presented. The model can handle some of the main observations in the domain of speech errors (the major empirical domain for most other theories of lexical access), and the theory opens new ways of approaching the cerebral organization of speech production by way of high-temporal-resolution imaging.

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3,958 citations

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References

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Book Chapter•DOI•

Learning internal representations by error propagation

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David E. Rumelhart, Geoffrey E. Hinton, Ronald J. Williams

01 Jan 1988

TL;DR: This chapter contains sections titled: The Problem, The Generalized Delta Rule, Simulation Results, Some Further Generalizations, Conclusion.

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Abstract: This chapter contains sections titled: The Problem, The Generalized Delta Rule, Simulation Results, Some Further Generalizations, Conclusion

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17,604 citations

"On the control of automatic process..." refers methods in this paper

...The backpropagation algorithm described by Rumelhart, Hinton, and Williams (1986) was introduced as a general learning mechanism that can be used in multilevel networks....
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...In the current model, we used the generalized delta rule (also known as the backpropagation learning algorithm) described by Rumelhart, Hinton, and Williams (1986)....
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Journal Article•DOI•

Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions.

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J. R. Stroop¹•Institutions (1)

Peabody College¹

01 Jan 1992-Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

15,981 citations

Monograph•DOI•

Parallel Distributed Processing: Explorations in the Microstructure of Cognition: Foundations

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David E. Rumelhart, James L. McClelland, Au

17 Jul 1986

15,313 citations

Book•

Learning internal representations by error propagation

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David E. Rumelhart, Geoffrey E. Hinton, Ronald J. Williams

03 Jan 1986

TL;DR: In this paper, the problem of the generalized delta rule is discussed and the Generalized Delta Rule is applied to the simulation results of simulation results in terms of the generalized delta rule.

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Abstract: This chapter contains sections titled: The Problem, The Generalized Delta Rule, Simulation Results, Some Further Generalizations, Conclusion

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13,579 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

Controlled and automatic human information processing: II. Perceptual learning, automatic attending and a general theory.

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Richard M. Shiffrin¹, Walter Schneider•Institutions (1)

Indiana University¹

01 Mar 1977-Psychological Review

TL;DR: Tested the 2-process theory of detection, search, and attention presented by the current authors (1977) in a series of experiments and demonstrated the qualitative difference between 2 modes of information processing: automatic detection and controlled search.

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Abstract: Tested the 2-process theory of detection, search, and attention presented by the current authors (1977) in a series of experiments. The studies (a) demonstrate the qualitative difference between 2 modes of information processing: automatic detection and controlled search; (b) trace the course of the

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7,032 citations

"On the control of automatic process..." refers background in this paper

...This approach draws on the distinction between automatic and controlled processes (Cattell, 1886; Posner & Snyder, 1975; Shitfrin & Schneider, 1977)....
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