在本研究中,我们使用块式(实验1)和试验式(实验2和3)操作来表示奖励的可能性,通过手动响应(实验1和2:Simon和Stroop任务;实验3:Simon和Eriksen侧翼任务),研究了绩效或有奖励前景对任务绩效的影响。在所有实验中,与每个冲突任务中的无奖励条件相比,任务性能(反应时间和/或错误率)通常在奖励方面有所改善。然而,有,如果有的话,很少有证据表明奖励操纵调节了平均冲突效应的大小,并且在通过分布分析(delta图)控制冲突处理中的时变波动时,也没有证据表明奖励的特定冲突效果。因此,结果没有为冲突特定账户提供证据,而是倾向于绩效一般账户,其中奖励预期导致整体性能改进而不影响冲突效应。我们讨论了主动控制如何调节冲突任务中目标处理和干扰处理之间的相互作用的可能含义。
In the present study, we investigated the influence of performance-contingent reward prospects on task performance across three visual conflict tasks with manual responses (Experiments 1 & 2: Simon and Stroop tasks; Experiment 3: Simon and Eriksen flanker task) using block-wise (Experiment 1) and trial-wise (Experiments 2 & 3) manipulations to signal the possibility of reward. Across all experiments, task performance (in reaction time and/or error rates) generally improved in reward compared with no-reward conditions in each conflict task. However, there was, if any, little evidence that the reward manipulation modulated the size of the mean conflict effects, and there was also no evidence for conflict-specific effects of reward when controlling for time-varying fluctuations in conflict processing via distributional analyses (delta plots). Thus, the results provide no evidence for conflict-specific accounts and instead favor performance-general accounts, where reward anticipation leads to overall performance improvements without affecting conflict effects. We discuss possible implications for how proactive control might modulate the interplay between target- and distractor-processing in conflict tasks.