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28-09-2021 | Original Article

Automatic effects of instructions: a tale of two paradigms

Auteurs: Inbar Amir, Liran Peleg, Nachshon Meiran

Gepubliceerd in: Psychological Research | Uitgave 5/2022

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Abstract

When examining rapid instructed task learning behaviorally, one out of two paradigms is usually used, the Inducer-Diagnostic (I-D) and the NEXT paradigm. Even though both paradigms are supposed to examine the same phenomenon of Automatic Effect of Instructions (AEI), there are some meaningful differences between them, notably in the size of the AEI. In the current work, we examined, in two pre-registered studies, the potential reasons for these differences in AEI size. Study 1 examined the influence of the data-analytic approach by comparing two existing relatively large data-sets, one from each paradigm (Braem et al., in Mem Cogn 47:1582–1591, 2019; Meiran et al., in Neuropsychologia 90:180–189, 2016). Study 2 focused on the influence of instruction type (concrete, as in NEXT, and abstract, as in I-D) and choice complexity of the task in which AEI-interference is assessed. We did that while using variants of the NEXT paradigm, some with modifications that approximated it to the I-D paradigm. Results from Study 1 indicate that the data-analytic approach partially explains the differences between the paradigms in terms of AEI size. Still, the paradigms remained different with respect to individual differences and with respect to AEI size in the first step following the instructions. Results from Study 2 indicate that Instruction type and the choice complexity in the phase in which AEI is assessed do not influence AEI size, or at least not in the expected direction. Theoretical and study-design implications are discussed.
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1
One technical difference was examined on an existing database (Meiran et al., 2016, N = 175). Specifically, we wanted to reject the claim that the differences between the two paradigms are due to stimulus type (i.e., a significant portion of the stimuli presented in the NEXT paradigms are pictures, but there were no picture targets in most of the studies employing the I-D paradigm). RTs were analyzed in a two-way ANOVA with a within-subjects independent variables congruency (congruent -incongruent) and stimulus type (symbols, letters, digits, and pictures). Mauchly's test indicated that the assumption of sphericity had been violated for the interaction between stimulus type and congruency (χ2(4) = 0.38, p < 0.001). Therefore, the degrees of freedom were corrected using Greenhouse–Geisser estimates of sphericity (ε = 0.67). As predicted, the interaction was not significant, F(2.68, 410.18) = 0.20, p = 0.880, η2p = 0.0003, and permitted acceptance of H0, BF10 = 0.002. A focused contrast examining the AEI of pictures as compared to symbols, letters, and digits, pooled (which used the pooled error term) showed a non-significant difference as well with t(612) = 0.05, p = 0.962, with BF10 = 0.020, indicating support for H0 that stimulus type did not influence AEI.
 
2
When examining the influence of testing mode, 20 interactions were computed (10 for each phase; 5 in RT and 5 in PE). Two out of the 20 interactions had significant p-value and/or had BF value that enabled H1 acceptance: (1) The 2-way interaction between testing mode and congruency in PE, F(1, 75) = 14.06, p < 0.001, 2p = 0.056, BF10 > 1000 (indicating a larger AEI in lab testing, 5.48% as compared to 0.35% in online testing); (2) The triple interaction among testing mode, congruency and instruction in RT, F(2, 75) = 2.82, p = 0.066, 2p = 0.005, BF10 = 12.015. Since the spatial-control condition was added only as an additional reference, we examined if the interaction among testing mode, Congruency, and instruction in RT remains significant when omitting spatial-control and comparing the abstract and concrete conditions. The results show insignificant interaction, with an inconclusive BF10 = 0.417 (Full details are provided in Table S5). To ensure that any conclusions regarding testing mode do not reflect some speed-accuracy tradeoffs, all the aforementioned ten interactions (five for each phase) were tested once more, now on an integrated speed-accuracy measure, the Linear Integrated Speed–Accuracy Score (LISAS, Vandierendonck, 2017). Only one out of the ten interactions had BF value that enabled H1 acceptance (but showed non-significant p-value): The triple interaction among testing mode, congruency and instruction, F(2, 75) = 2.60, p = 0.081, 2p = 0.005, BF10 = 13.425. Again, we examined if the interaction among testing mode, Congruency, and instruction was significant when comparing only the abstract and concrete conditions and found it inconclusive, BF10 = 1.072 (Full details are provided in Table S6 in the Supplementary Materials). Given the Testing mode results, and to be on the safe side, the B/ANOVA of the interaction between congruency and instruction in RT will be examined once on the entire sample and once in each testing mode, separately.
 
3
In the B/ANOVA, the computation of effects involving step violated the assumption of sphericity both in RT and in PE, which was indicated by Mauchly’s test. Therefore, degrees of freedom were corrected using the Greenhouse–Geisser correction. Mauchly’s test parameters and the GG estimates values are presented in Table S7 in Supplementary Materials. Results from G–G-corrected effects are presented in Tables 4 and 5 in bold.
 
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Metagegevens
Titel
Automatic effects of instructions: a tale of two paradigms
Auteurs
Inbar Amir
Liran Peleg
Nachshon Meiran
Publicatiedatum
28-09-2021
Uitgeverij
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Gepubliceerd in
Psychological Research / Uitgave 5/2022
Print ISSN: 0340-0727
Elektronisch ISSN: 1430-2772
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-021-01596-1