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Instructed illiteracy reveals expertise-effects on unconscious processing

Please always quote using this URN: urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-125332
  • We used a new methodological approach to investigate whether top-down influences like expertise determine the extent of unconscious processing. This approach does not rely on preexisting differences between experts and novices, but instructs essentially the same task in a way that either addresses a domain of expertise or not. Participants either were instructed to perform a lexical decision task (expert task) or to respond to a combination of single features of word and non-word stimuli (novel task). The stimuli and importantly also theWe used a new methodological approach to investigate whether top-down influences like expertise determine the extent of unconscious processing. This approach does not rely on preexisting differences between experts and novices, but instructs essentially the same task in a way that either addresses a domain of expertise or not. Participants either were instructed to perform a lexical decision task (expert task) or to respond to a combination of single features of word and non-word stimuli (novel task). The stimuli and importantly also the mapping of responses to those stimuli, however, were exactly the same in both groups. We analyzed congruency effects of masked primes depending on the instructed task. Participants performing the expert task responded faster and less error prone when the prime was response congruent rather than incongruent. This effect was significantly reduced in the novel task, and even reversed when excluding identical prime-target pairs. This indicates that the primes in the novel task had an effect on a perceptual level, but were not able to impact on response activation. Overall, these results demonstrate an expertise-based top-down modulation of unconscious processing that cannot be explained by confounds that are otherwise inherent in comparisons between novices and experts.show moreshow less

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Metadaten
Author: Heiko Reuss, Carsten Pohl, Andrea Kiesel, Wilfried Kunde
URN:urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-125332
Document Type:Journal article
Faculties:Fakultät für Humanwissenschaften (Philos., Psycho., Erziehungs- u. Gesell.-Wissensch.) / Institut für Psychologie
Language:English
Parent Title (English):Frontiers in Psychology
Year of Completion:2015
Volume:6
Issue:239
Source:Frontiers in Psychology 6:239. doi: 10.3389/ fpsyg.2015.00239
DOI:https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00239
Dewey Decimal Classification:1 Philosophie und Psychologie / 15 Psychologie / 150 Psychologie
Tag:expertise; lexical decision task; masked priming; top-down control; unconscious processing
Release Date:2016/01/29
Collections:Open-Access-Publikationsfonds / Förderzeitraum 2015
Licence (German):License LogoCC BY: Creative-Commons-Lizenz: Namensnennung