Abstract
We investigated the mechanism involved in conflict resolution when individuals processed two-digit numbers. Participants performed a comparison task in blocks of two trials. In the first trial, between-decade two-digit numbers were used in a compatible condition where the decade and the unit of one number were larger than those of the other number (i.e., 21–73) and an incompatible condition where the decade of one number was larger but the unit was smaller than those of the other number (i.e., 61–53). In the second trial, within-decade two-digit numbers were presented in a related condition where the numbers contained the units presented previously (i.e., 41–43) and an unrelated condition with units that did not appear before (i.e., 48–49). In the first trial, participants responded more slowly in incompatible trials relative to compatible trials. In the second trial, participants were slower in the related condition relative to unrelated trials only after incompatible trials. These results suggest that participants experienced conflict in the incompatible condition of first trial and that they inhibited irrelevant units to resolve conflict.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anderson, M. C. (2003). Rethinking interference theory: executive control and the mechanisms of forgetting. Journal of Memory and Language, 49, 415–445. doi:10.1016/j.jml.2003.08.006.
Anderson, M., Bjork, R., & Bjork, E. (1994). Remembering can cause forgetting: retrieval dynamics in long-term memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory, and Cognition, 20, 1063–1087. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.20.5.1063.
Arbuthnott, K., & Campbell, J. I. D. (2000). Cognitive inhibition in selection and sequential retrieval. Memory and Cognition, 28, 331–340. doi:10.3758/BF03198548.
Arbuthnott, K., & Campbell, J. I. D. (2003). The locus of self-inhibition in sequential retrieval. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 15, 177–194. doi:10.1080/09541440244000067.
Bialystok, E., & Craik, F. I. M. (2010). Cognitive and linguistic processing in the bilingual mind. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 19, 19–23. doi:10.1177/0963721409358571.
Botvinick, M. M., Braver, T. S., Barch, D. M., Carter, S. C., & Cohen, J. D. (2001). Conflict monitoring and cognitive control. Psychological Review, 108(3), 624–652. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.108.3.624.
Botvinick, M. M., Cohen, J. D., & Cameron, S. C. (2004). Conflict monitoring and anterior cingulate cortex: an update. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 8, 539–546. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2004.10.003.
Campbell, J. I. D., & Dowd, R. (2012). Inter-operation transfer in Chinese-English bilinguals` arithmetic. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 19, 948–954. doi:10.3758/s13423-012-0277-z.
Campbell, J. I. D., & Thompson, V. (2012). Retrieval-induced forgetting of arithmetic facts. Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory, and Cognition, 38, 118–129. doi:10.1037/a0025056.
Cohen Kadosh, R., Gevers, W., & Notebaert, W. (2011). Sequential analysis of the numerical Stroop effect reveals response suppression. Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory and Cognition, 37, 1243–1249. doi:10.1037/a0023550.
Ganor-Stern, D., Tzelgov, J., & Ellenbogen, R. (2007). Automaticity and two-digit numbers. Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception and Performance, 33, 483–496. doi:10.1037/0096-1523.33.2.483.
Green, D. W. (1986). Control, activation and resource. Brain and Language, 27, 210–223. doi:10.1016/0093-934X(86)90016-7.
Green, D., & Abutalebi, J. (2013). Language control in bilinguals: the adaptive control hypothesis. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 25, 515–530. doi:10.1080/20445911.2013.796377.
Hasher, L., & Zacks, R. T. (1988). Working memory, comprehension, and aging: a review and a new view. In G. H. Bower (Ed.), The psychology of learning and motivation (pp. 193–225). New York: Academic Press.
Huber, S., Mann, A., Nuerk, H. C., & Moeller, K. (2014). Cognitive control in number magnitude processing—evidence from eye-tracking. Psychological Research, 78, 539–548. doi:10.1007/s00426-013-0504-x.
Huber, S., Moeller, K., Nuerk, H.-C., Macizo, P., Herrera, A., & Willmes, K. (2013). Cognitive control in number processing—a computational model. In R. West & T. Stewart (Eds.), Proceedings of the 12th international conference on cognitive modeling. Ottawa: Carleton University. http://iccm-conference.org/2013-proceedings/128/0128-paper.pdf.
Jackson, N., & Coney, J. (2007). Simple arithmetic processing: surface form effects in a priming task. Acta Psychologica, 125, 1–19. doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2006.05.003.
Jacoby, L. L., Lindsay, D. S., & Hessels, S. (2003). Item-specific control of automatic processes: stroop process dissociations. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 10, 638–644. doi:10.3758/BF03196526.
Kunda, Z., & Spencer, S. J. (2003). When do stereotypes come to mind and when do they color judgment? A goal-based theoretical framework for stereotype activation and application. Psychological Bulletin, 129, 522–544. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.129.4.522.
Macizo, P., Bajo, T., & Martín, M. (2010). Inhibitory processes in bilingual language comprehension: evidence from Spanish-English interlexical homographs. Journal of Memory and Language, 63, 232–244. doi:10.1016/j.jml.2010.04.002.
Macizo, P., & Herrera, A. (2010). Two-digit number comparison: decade-unit and unit-decade produce the same compatibility effect with number words. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 64, 17–24. doi:10.1037/a0015803.
Macizo, P., & Herrera, A. (2011a). Cognitive control in number processing: evidence from the unit-decade compatibility effect. Acta Psychologica, 136, 112–118. doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2010.10.008.
Macizo, P., & Herrera, A. (2011b). Working memory and two-digit number processing. Memory, 19, 941–955. doi:10.1080/09658211.2011.614621.
Macizo, P., & Herrera, A. (2013). The processing of Arabic numbers is under cognitive control. Psychological Research, 77, 651–658. doi:10.1007/s00426-012-0456-6.
Macizo, P., Herrera, A., Román, P., & Martín, M. C. (2011). The processing of two-digit numbers in bilinguals. British Journal of Psychology, 102, 464–477. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8295.2010.02005.x.
Macizo, P., Herrera, A., Román, P., & Martín, M. C. (2012). Proficiency in a second language influences the processing of number words. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 23, 915–921. doi:10.1080/20445911.2011.586626.
MacLeod, C. M. (1991). Half a century of research on the Stroop effect: an integrative review. Psychological Bulletin, 109, 163–203. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.109.2.163.
MacLeod, C. M., Dodd, M. D., Sheard, E. D., Wilson, D. E., & Bibi, U. (2003). In opposition to inhibition. In B. H. Ross (Ed.), The psychology of learning and motivation (Vol. 43, pp. 163–214). San Diego: Academic Press.
May, C. P., Kane, M. J., & Hasher, L. (1995). Determinants of negative priming. Psychological Bulleting, 118, 35–54. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.118.1.35.
Meert, G., Grégoire, J., & Noël, M. P. (2010). Comparing the magnitude of two fractions with common components: which representations are used by 10- and 12-year-old children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 107, 244–259. doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2010.04.008.
Moeller, K., Fischer, M. H., Nuerk, H. C., & Willmes, K. (2009a). Sequential or parallel decomposed processing of two-digit numbers? Evidence from eye-tracking. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 62, 323–334. doi:10.1080/17470210801946740.
Moeller, K., Klein, E., & Nuerk, H.-C. (2013). Influences of cognitive control in numerical cognition—adaptation by binding for implicit learning. Topics in Cognitive Science, 5, 335–353. doi:10.1111/tops.12015.
Moeller, K., Nuerk, H. C., & Willmes, K. (2009b). Internal number magnitude representation is not holistic, either. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 21, 672–685. doi:10.1007/s10339-012-0535-z.
Moyer, R. S., & Landauer, T. K. (1967). Time required for judgements of numerical inequality. Nature, 215, 1519–1520. doi:10.1038/2151519a0.
Neill, W. T. (1997). Episodic retrieval in negative priming and repetition priming. Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory and Cognition, 23, 1291–1305. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.23.6.1291.
Neill, W. T., & Valdes, L. A. (1992). Persistence of negative priming: steady-state or decay? Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory and Cognition, 18, 565–576. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.18.3.565.
Notebaert, W., & Verguts, T. (2008). Cognitive control acts locally. Cognition, 106, 1071–1080. doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2007.04.011.
Nuerk, H. C., Weger, U., & Willmes, K. (2001). Decade breaks in the mental number line? Putting the tens and units back in different bins. Cognition, 82, B25–B33. doi:10.1016/S0010-0277(01)00142-1.
Nuerk, H. C., Weger, U., & Willmes, K. (2004). On the perceptual generality of the unit-decade compatibility effect. Experimental Psychology, 51, 72–79. doi:10.1027/1618-3169.51.1.72.
Nuerk, H. C., Weger, U., & Willmes, K. (2005). Language effects in magnitude comparison: small but not irrelevant. Brain and Language, 92, 262–277. doi:10.1016/j.bandl.2004.06.107.
Nuerk, H. C., & Willmes, K. (2005). On the magnitude representations of two-digit numbers. Psychological Science, 47, 52–72.
Rafal, R., & Henik, A. (1994). The neurology of inhibition: integrating controlled and automatic processes. In D. Dagenbach & T. H. Carr (Eds.), Inhibitory processes in attention, memory, and language (pp. 1–51). San Diego: Academic Press.
Schneider, W., Eschman, A., & Zuccolotto, A. (2002). E-Prime user’s guide (Version 1.1). Pittsburg: Psychology Software Tools.
Stroop, J. R. (1935). Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 18, 643–662. doi:10.1037/h0054651.
Tipper, S. P. (2001). Does negative priming reflect inhibitory mechanisms? A review and integration of conflicting views. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 54(A), 321–343. doi:10.1080/713755969.
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 and Cognition, 16, 64–70. doi:10.3758/BF03197746.
Tzelgov, J., Henik, A., & Berger, J. (1992). Controlling Stroop effects by manipulating expectations for color words. Memory and Cognition, 20, 727–735. doi:10.3758/BF03202722.
Verguts, T., & Notebaert, W. (2008). Hebbian learning of cognitive control: dealing with specific and nonspecific adaptation. Psychological Review, 115, 518–525. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.115.2.51.
Verguts, T., & Notebaert, W. (2009). Adaptation by binding: a learning account of cognitive control. Trends in Cognitive Science, 13, 252–257. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2009.02.007.
Verguts, T., Notebaert, W., Kunde, W., & Wühr, P. (2011). Post-conflict slowing: cognitive adaptation after conflict processing. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 18, 76–82. doi:10.3758/s13423-010-0016-2.
Wood, J., Mathews, A., & Dalgleish, T. (2001). Anxiety and cognitive inhibition. Emotion, 1, 166–181. doi:10.1037/1528-3542.1.2.166.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Grant PSI2012-32287). We thank David Ocón (undergraduate student in Psychology at the University of Granada) for his help in testing participants. We are greatly indebted to Dr. Pierre Barrouillet and three anonymous reviewers for lots of useful theoretical and empirical comments on a previous version of this paper.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Macizo, P. Conflict resolution in two-digit number processing: evidence of an inhibitory mechanism. Psychological Research 81, 219–230 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-015-0716-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-015-0716-3