Abstract
This study examined whether negative priming and Stroop interference can be observed cross-modally, resulting from auditory distractors that are related to subsequent visual targets. Negative priming was found in subjects who remained unaware of the contingency between distractors and subsequent targets, whereas subjects who reported the contingency showed facilitatory priming. Stroop interference from incongruent auditory distractors was observed across all subjects and was replicated in a second experiment which also showed that interference declined when a particular distractor was repeated. These data suggest that an inhibitory mechanism of selection may operate to prevent response to auditory distractors, similar to the inhibitory selection mechanisms proposed for vision. They also demonstrate the reality of cross-modal Stroop effects, contrary to the findings of Miles, Madden, and Jones (1989).
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allport, D. A. (1980). Attention and performance. In G. Claxton (Ed.), Cognitive psychology: New directions (pp. 112–153). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Broadbent, D. E. (1982). Task combination and selective intake of information. Acta Psychologica, 50, 253–290.
Cowan, N. (1989a). The reality of cross-modal Stroop effects. Perception & Psychophysics, 45, 87–88.
Cowan, N. (1989b). A reply to Miles, Madden, and Jones (1989): Mistakes and other flaws in the challenge to the cross-modal Stroop effect. Perception & Psychophysics, 45, 82–84.
Cowan, N., & Barron, A. (1987). Cross-modal, auditory-visual Stroop interference and possible implications for speech memory. Perception & Psychophysics, 41, 393–401.
Driver, J., & Tipper, S. P. (1989). On the nonselectivity of “selective” seeing: Contrasts between interference and priming in selective attention. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 15, 304–314.
Glaser, M. O., & Glaser, W. R. (1982). Time course analysis of the Stroop phenomenon. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 8, 875–894.
Glaser, W. R., & Dungelhoff, F. J. (1984). The time course of picture-word interference. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 10, 640–654.
Greenwald, A. G. (1972). Evidence of both perceptual filtering and response suppression for rejected messages in selective attention. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 94, 58–67.
Lewis, J. L. (1972). Semantic processing with bisensory stimulation. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 96, 455–457.
Lorsch, E. P., Anderson, D. R., & Well, A. D. (1984). Effects of irrelevant information on speeded classification tasks: Interference is reduced by habituation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 10, 850–864.
McLeod, P., & Posner, M. I. (1984). Privileged loops from percept to act. In H. Bouma & D. G. Bouwhuis (Eds.), Attention and performance X (pp. 55–66). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Miles, C., & Jones, D. M. (1989). The fallacy of the cross-modal Stroop effect: A rejoinder to Cowan (1989). Perception & Psychophysics, 45, 85–86.
Miles, C., Madden, C., & Jones, D.M. (1989). Cross-modal, auditory-visual Stroop interference: A reply to Cowan and Barron (1987). Perception & Psychophysics, 45, 77–81.
Morton, J. (1969). Categories of interference: Verbal mediation and conflict in card sorting. British Journal of Psychology, 60, 329–346.
Navon, D. (1977). Forest before trees: The precedence of global features in perception. Cognitive Psychology, 9, 353–383.
Neill, W. T. (1977). Inhibitory and facilitatory processes in selective attention. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 3, 444–450.
Neisser, U. (1976). Cognition and reality. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman.
Reisberg, D., Baron, J., & Kemler, D. G. (1980). Overcoming Stroop interference: The effects of practice on distractor processing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 6, 140–150.
Stroop, J. R. (1935). Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 18, 643–662.
Tipper, S. P. (1985). The negative priming effect: Inhibitory effects of ignored primes. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 37A, 571–590.
Tipper, S. P., & Baylis, G. C. (1987). Individual differences in selective attention: The relation of priming and interference to cognitive failure. Personality & Individual Differences, 8, 667–675.
Tipper, S. P., & Driver, J. (1988). Negative priming between pictures and words in a selective attention task: Evidence for semantic processing of ignored stimuli. Memory & Cognition, 16, 64–70.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
J.D.’s research is supported by the Medical Research Council (U.K.), G.C.B. was funded by U.S. Office of Naval Research Contract N00014-88-K-0281.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Driver, J., Baylis, G.C. Cross-modal negative priming and interference in selective attention. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 31, 45–48 (1993). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03334137
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03334137