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Stroop matching task: role of feature selection and temporal modulation

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Abstract

We conducted an event-related potential (ERP) study to investigate the electrocortical dynamics of attentional feature-based processing in the Stroop matching task. Participants in the study (n = 37) compared the ink color of a colored word with the meaning of a color–word in white ink. The two task stimuli were presented simultaneously or with SOAs (Stimulus Onset Asynchrony) of 400 and 1,200 ms. The Stroop matching effect was maximal during SOA-0, was reduced at SOA-400, and was inverted at SOA-1200. We focused the ERP analysis on the N1 component. Paralleling the behavioral results, the N1 amplitude was greater for congruent stimuli than incongruent stimuli during SOA-0. This difference was attenuated at SOA-400, and at SOA-1200, an inverse pattern was observed. The results provide evidence that early selection processing participated in the Stroop matching task phenomenon and also suggest that the temporal modulation of early attention is a function of task characteristics such as SOA.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), and Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES). Partial support was also provided by grants from IBNNet/FINEP and PROPP-UFF. We extend special thanks to the Society for Psychophysiological Research (SPR) for the fellowship training program to the first author (IAD).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Fisiologia e Farmacologia, Instituto Biomédico, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Prof. Ernani de Melo, 101, 24210-130, São Domingos, Niterói, RJ, Brazil

    Isabel A. David, Letícia de Oliveira & Mirtes G. Pereira

  2. Departamento Interdisciplinar, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Pólo Universitário de Rio das Ostras, Rio das Ostras, RJ, Brazil

    Izabela Mocaiber & Walter Machado-Pinheiro

  3. Programa de Neurobiologia, Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

    Eliane Volchan

  4. Facultad de Psicología, Departamento de Personalidad, Evaluación y Tratamiento Psicológico, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain

    Jaime Vila & Pandelis Perakakis

  5. Department of Psychology, NIMH Center for the Study of Emotion and Attention, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, US

    Andreas Keil

  6. Departamento de Pesquisa, Universidade Federal do Amapá, Macapá, AP, Brazil

    Aydamari J. P. Faria-Júnior

  7. Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg, NY, US

    Elisa C. Dias

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  1. Isabel A. David
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Correspondence to Isabel A. David.

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David, I.A., Volchan, E., Vila, J. et al. Stroop matching task: role of feature selection and temporal modulation. Exp Brain Res 208, 595–605 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-010-2507-9

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