与当前任务无关的规则对自动反应激活过程的影响

The Effects of Task-unrelated Rules on Present Automatic Response Activation

本研究致力于探讨自上而下的任务因素对自动反应激活过程的影响。研究包含两个实验,采用掩蔽启动的范式,选取数字和字母作为刺激,任务因素为与当前任务无关的处于预备状态的任务规则。实验一初步验证了与当前无关的处于预备状态的任务规则可以影响自动反应激活过程;实验二进一步证明了这种影响具有广泛性,即与当前无关的任务规则所设定的所有刺激系列都可以影响当前任务中的反应启动过程。

In classical theory,automatic processing is defined as a process that needs little attention or cognitive resources. But recent findings questioned this theory： maybe the automatic processing is also modulated by top-down factors. Top-down modulation is the function of our brain to modulate and select task-related information and allocate our attention toit,which contains task factors,etc. Our study aimed to find out whether the task factor could modulate automatic response activation or not. The task factor is the operation rule which is task-unrelated but requires preparation. In both two experiments the masked priming paradigm was used. The subjects were asked to perform number decision tasks and letter decision tasks. The number decision tasks instructed the subjects to decide whether the present number was bigger than five or smaller than five. The letter decision tasks instructed the subjects to decide whether the present letter was a vowel or a consonant. Before the letter or number were presented,instruction was given informing the subjects to perform a task,followed by a masked prime which is task-unrelated. The masks were three of the following symbols arranged randomly in different orders （#,% ,？,,$ ,） . Experiment1 was to discuss if the task-unrelated but preparation-required rule could modulate automatic response activation by 30 undergraduate students＇ data. Numbers and letters were used as stimuli （2,3,7,8 ; A,E,G,H） . Experiment 2 was to discuss if all the stimuli defined by the task-unrelated rule modulated automatic response activation by 31 undergraduate students＇ data. The masked primes were1,4,6, 9; B,F,I,U; the targets were 2,3,7,8 ; A,E,G,H. We used repeated-measures analysis of variance as the statistical method. The experiment was a 2 （task factor： task switched task repeated） × 2 （within trial response： compatible incompatible） × 2 （between trials response： compatible incompatible） design. The main result of Experiment1 was that the main effect of within trial response was significant,F（1,29） = 24. 360,p . 001,M compatible = 497ms,SD = 55ms,M incompatible = 510ms,SD = 55ms. The main result of Experiment 2 showed that in the task repeated condition,in trials whose responses were compatible with previous ones,the main effect of within trial response was significant,F（1,30） = 7. 378,p . 05,M compatible = 496ms,SD = 67ms,M incompatible = 505ms,SD = 67ms. The conclusion is that automatic response activation can be modulated by top-down task factor.