Psychological Development and Education ›› 2013, Vol. 29 ›› Issue (2): 139-146.

Previous Articles     Next Articles

The Mechanism of Unconscious Conflict:An Exploring Based on Stroop Paradigm

JIANG Jun1, XIA Yi-ting1, CHEN An-tao1,2, CHEN Xue-fei3, ZHANG Qing-lin1,2, ZHANG Wei-wei1   

  1. 1. Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715;
    2. Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (Southwest University), Ministry of Education and School of Psychology, Soutwest University, Beibei, Chongqing 400715, China;
    3. Teacher Education School, Qujing Normal University, Qujing Yunnan 655011
  • Online:2013-03-15 Published:2013-03-15

Abstract: Unconscious information has a great impact on behavior. It can trigger not only lower-level cognitive functions but also higher cognitive functions such as conflict control. Although findings obtained from previous behavioral and cognitive neuroscience studies have strongly confirmed the existence of unconscious conflict, a fierce controversy on whether unconscious conflict arises from semantic conflicts or response conflict still exists. In a masked version Stroop priming task, we dissociated unconscious semantic conflict and response conflict. The results suggested that both semantic conflict and response conflict contributed to unconscious conflict. This suggested that unconscious conflict may consist of both semantic conflict and response conflict. The results further supported the view that unconscious stimuli can be processed to the semantic level.

Key words: unconscious, conscious, Stroop effect, semantic conflict, response conflict

CLC Number: 

  • B844.3
Abrams, R. L., & Greenwald, A. G. (2000). Parts Outweigh the Whole (Word) in Unconscious Analysis of Meaning. Psychological Science,11, 118-124.
Bodner, G., & Dypvik, A. (2005). Masked priming of number judgments depends on prime validity and task. Memory & Cognition,33, 29-47.
D'Ostilio, K., & Garraux, G. (2012). Dissociation between unconscious motor response facilitation and conflict in medial frontal areas. European Journal of Neuroscience,35, 332-340.
Damian, M. F. (2001). Congruity effects evoked by subliminally presented primes: Automaticity rather than semantic processing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 27, 154-165.
De Houwer, J. (2003). On the role of stimulus-response and stimulus-stimulus compatibility in the Stroop effect. Memory & Cognition, 31, 353-359.
Dehaene, S., Artiges, E., Naccache, L., Martelli, C., Viard, A., Schürhoff, F., et al. (2003). Conscious and subliminal conflicts in normal subjects and patients with schizophrenia: The role of the anterior cingulate. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 100, 13722-13727.
Dehaene, S., Naccache, L., Le ClecH, G., Koechlin, E., Mueller, M., Dehaene-Lambertz, G., et al. (1998). Imaging unconscious semantic priming. Nature, 395, 597-600.
Desender, K., & Van Den Bussche, E. (2012). Is consciousness necessary for conflict adaptation? A state of the art. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 6,3.
Finkbeiner, M., & Friedman, J. (2011). The Flexibility of Nonconsciously Deployed Cognitive Processes: Evidence from Masked Congruence Priming. PLoS ONE, 6, e17095.
Grossi, G. (2006). Relatedness proportion effects on masked associative priming: An ERP study. Psychophysiology, 43, 21-30.
Hughes, G., Velmans, M., & De Fockert, J. (2009). Unconscious priming of a no-go response. Psychophysiology, 46, 1258-1269.
Kinoshita, S., & Hunt, L. (2008). RT distribution analysis of category congruence effects with masked primes. Memory & Cognition, 36, 1324-1334.
Kunde, W. (2003). Sequential modulations of stimulus-response correspondence effects depend on awareness of response conflict. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 10, 198-205.
Kunde, W., Kiesel, A., & Hoffmann, J. (2003). Conscious control over the content of unconscious cognition. Cognition, 88, 223-242.
Kunde, W., Reuss, H., & Kiesel, A. (2012). Consciousness and cognitive control. Advances in cognitive psychology, 8, 9-18.
Mayr, U. (2004). Conflict, consciousness, and control. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 8, 145-148.
Merikle, P. M., Joordens, S., & Stolz, J. A. (1995). Measuring the Relative Magnitude of Unconscious Influences. Consciousness and Cognition, 4, 422-439.
Naccache, L., & Dehaene, S. (2001). Unconscious semantic priming extends to novel unseen stimuli. Cognition, 80, 215-229.
Neely, J. H. (1991). Semantic priming effects in visual word recognition: A selective review of current findings and theories. In D. Besner & G. W. Humphreys (Eds.), Basic processes in reading: Visual word recognition (pp. 265-335). Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Ursu, S., Clark, K. A., Aizenstein, H. J., Stenger, V. A., & Carter, C. S. (2009). Conflict-related activity in the caudal anterior cingulate cortex in the absence of awareness. Biological Psychology, 80, 279-286.
Van den Bussche, E., Van den Noortgate, W., & Reynvoet, B. (2009). Mechanisms of masked priming: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 135, 452-477.
van Gaal, S., De Lange, F. P., & Cohen, M. X. (2012). The role of consciousness in cognitive control and decision making. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 6.
van Gaal, S., Lamme, V. A. F., & Ridderinkhof, K. R. (2010). Unconsciously Triggered Conflict Adaptation. PLoS ONE, 5, e11508.
van Gaal, S., Scholte, H. S., Lamme, V. A. F., Fahrenfort, J. J., & Ridderinkhof, K. R. (2011). Pre-SMA Gray-matter Density Predicts Individual Differences in Action Selection in the Face of Conscious and Unconscious Response Conflict. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 23, 382-390.
Van Opstal, F., Calderon, C. B., Gevers, W., & Verguts, T. (2011). Setting the stage subliminally: Unconscious context effects. Consciousness and Cognition, 20, 1860-1864.
Van Veen, V., & Carter, C. S. (2002). The timing of action-monitoring processes in the anterior cingulate cortex. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 14, 593-602.
van Veen, V., & Carter, C. S. (2005). Separating semantic conflict and response conflict in the Stroop task: a functional MRI study. Neuroimage, 27, 497-504.
陈雪飞, 蒋军, 赵晓, 陈安涛. (2010). 练习对Stroop效应中语义冲突和反应冲突的影响. 心理科学, 33, 869-871.
霍鹏飞. (2011). 阈下知觉的加工水平及其发生条件. Unpublished 硕士, 上海师范大学.
蒋军, 陈安涛, 张蔚蔚, 张庆林. (2012). 无意识信息引发的认知控制及其神经机制. 心理科学进展, 20, 1573-1584.
[1] FAN Xianglin, CUI Yingjin. The Relationship between Objectified Body Consciousness and Restrained Eating Behavior among Female College Students: The Mediating Roles of Fear of Negative Appearance Evaluation and Sociocultural Pressure [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2024, 40(1): 122-131.
[2] YU Xide. Research Paradigms of Children's Time Cognition: Dilemma and Transcendence [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2022, 38(5): 749-760.
[3] TU Shen, LIANG Qiuxia, ZHU Sishi, LI Changjun, LIU Qingying, ZHOU Yajuan. The Unconscious Integration of the Semantic Category Consistency Relationship of Semantic Words Presented in Sequence [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2021, 37(1): 10-18.
[4] SUN Conghui, ZHAO Chunli, WANG Shenglong. The Effect of Public Self-consciousness on Altruistic Behavior under Eye Cues [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2020, 36(3): 283-288.
[5] DING Zien, LIU Qinxue. Online Social Behavior and Online Altruistic Behavior: The Role of Self-esteem and Public Self-consciousness [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2020, 36(2): 175-183.
[6] DING Zien, WANG Xiaohan, LIU Qinxue. The Relationship between College Students' Self-esteem and Cyber Aggressive Behavior: the Role of Social Anxiety and Dual Self-consciousness [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2018, 34(2): 171-180.
[7] ZOU Yan-rong, CHEN Hui-en, ZHENG Hai-yan, ANG Chen, WANG Rui-ming. Consciousness of Causal Inference in Expository Reading [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2013, 29(4): 378-384.
[8] CHEN Qun-lin, LUO Jun-long, JIANG Jun, WEI Dong-tao, ZHANG Qing-lin. Effects of Unconscious Processing on Creativity Problems Solving [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2012, 28(6): 569-575.
[9] WANG Ming-zhong, ZHOU Zong-kui, FAN Cui-ying, SUN Xiao-jun. Interpersonal Competence Mediating Paths from Social Perspective-taking and Public Self-consciousness to Adolescents’ Emotional Adaption [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2012, 28(4): 413-420.
[10] WANG Yu-wen, WANG Zhen-hong, LIU Jian-jun. The Development of Self-conscious Emotion Understanding of Primary School Children and Its Relationship with Prosocial Behavior and Peer Acceptance [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2011, 27(1): 65-70.
[11] NIE Yan-gang, DING Li. The Characters of Adolescent Self-consciousness and its Relationship with Social Adaptive Behavior [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2009, 25(2): 47-54.
[12] LIU Zhao-min, LIU Chang. The Age Differences of Stroop and Reverse Stroop Effect [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2005, 21(4): 52-55.
[13] . Research on the Development of Self-conscionsness in Audescence [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2000, 16(1): 12-18.
Viewed
Full text


Abstract

Cited

  Shared   
  Discussed   
No Suggested Reading articles found!