Cited by 344Neural and Behavioral Psychology StudiesNeurobiology of Language and BilingualismFree Will and Agency

In support of a distinction between voluntary and stimulus-driven control: A review of the literature on proportion congruent effects

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Bugg, Julie M., Crump, Matthew J. C.·2012·Frontiers in Psychology

Abstract

Cognitive control is by now a large umbrella term referring collectively to multiple processes that plan and coordinate actions to meet task goals. A common feature of paradigms that engage cognitive control is the task requirement to select relevant information despite a habitual tendency (or bias) to select goal-irrelevant information. At least since the 1970s, researchers have employed proportion congruent (PC) manipulations to experimentally establish selection biases and evaluate the mechanisms used to control attention. PC manipulations vary the frequency with which irrelevant information conflicts (i.e., is incongruent) with relevant information. The purpose of this review is to summarize the growing body of literature on PC effects across selective attention paradigms, beginning first with Stroop, and then describing parallel effects in flanker and task-switching paradigms. The review chronologically tracks the expansion of the PC manipulation from its initial implementation at the list-wide level, to more recent implementations at the item-specific and context-specific levels. An important theoretical aim is demonstrating that PC effects at different levels (e.g., list-wide vs. item or context-specific) support a distinction between voluntary forms of cognitive control, which operate based on anticipatory information, and relatively automatic or reflexive forms of cognitive control, which are rapidly triggered by the processing of particular stimuli or stimulus features. A further aim is to highlight those PC manipulations that allow researchers to dissociate stimulus-driven control from other stimulus-driven processes (e.g., S-R responding; episodic retrieval). We conclude by discussing the utility of PC manipulations for exploring the distinction between voluntary control and stimulus-driven control in other relevant paradigms.

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  • Response inhibition is sensitive to variations in task context.

    “It was argued that response inhibition is sensitive to variations in task context (Bugg & Crump, 2012)”

    From Automatic imitation of multiple agents: A computational model (2019) · cites this paper as Bugg & Crump, 2012

    The ‘Context-specific proportion congruent manipulations’ section reports that Stroop interference varied by context and describes rapid, context-triggered control adjustments (page unavailable). The review frames these adjustments as attentional filtering, rather than establishing that response inhibition itself is sensitive to task context. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Balancing facilitation and interference is needed for the model to produce the asymptote.

    “Together, these findings highlight the need to balance facilitation and interference (Botvinick et al., 2001;Bugg & Crump, 2012).”

    From Automatic imitation of multiple agents: A computational model (2019) · cites this paper as Bugg & Crump, 2012

    The Computational Accounts section discusses models of conflict and interference, while the item-specific proportion congruent section mentions facilitation only in a comparison with interference. Neither passage says that a model must balance the two to produce an asymptote. Searches for “asymptote” and “facilitation” found no passage establishing that requirement; page numbers were unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.74)

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Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Balota D. A. Faust M. E. (2001). “Attention in dementia of the Alzheimer’s type,” in Handbook of Neuropsychology, 2nd Edn, eds Boller F. Cappa S. (New York, NY: Elsevier Science), 51– 80

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Authors
Bugg, J. M., & Crump, M. J. C.
Affiliations
  • Washington University in St. Louis (US)
  • Brooklyn College (US)
Corresponding author
Crump, Matthew J. C.
Venue
Frontiers in Psychology
Published
2012
Volume
3
Pages
367-367
ISSN
1664-1078 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2120535690
Cited by
344
References
96
Citations by year
2026: 19 · 2025: 29 · 2024: 35 · 2023: 20 · 2022: 31 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 25 · 2019: 29 · 2018: 28 · 2017: 27 · 2016: 24 · 2015: 13 · 2014: 25 · 2013: 14 · 2012: 1
FWCI
8.69
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Frontiers in Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • CUNY Academic Works (City University of New York) (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Free Will and Agency
Keywords
cognitive control, volitional control, selective attention, Stroop interference, flanker task, task switching, selection bias, anticipatory control, reflexive control, stimulus-response associations, episodic memory retrieval

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