| Description |
Transitioning control is the process of switching attentional behaviors between voluntary (controlled attention) and involuntary (automaticity) cognition. The objective of this study was to examine individual differences in the ability to transition between automatic and controlled processes. In a recent study (Miller, 2014) researchers inferred a transitioning effect while using a between-subjects design. To generalize Miller's findings and focus in on the transitional aspect, researchers in this experiment used a within-subjects design to manipulate a transitioning variable with the aim of turning on and off controlled attentional processing. All participants were undergraduate students (N= 121) from the University of Utah. Transitions were attempted by alternating explicit (warning) and implicit (no-warning) task instructions. We administered an Automated operational span (A-Ospan) task, by which individuals were categorized as having either high working memory capacity (WMC; high spans) or low WMC (low spans). A common oppositional task paradigm (e.g., Simon Task) was used to measure individual performance on accuracy and reaction times (RT) across three separate sessions, where conflict between controlled attention and automatic behaviors could be observed. Overall, performance in accuracy and RT did not support a transitioning behavior among high or low span individuals. These findings highlight the importance of using a withinsubjects design in further analyzing the individual differences in transitioning control, suggesting that the greater accuracy and faster RTs previously observed in high spans does not necessarily generalize into a better ability to transition control. |
