Automatic and Controlled Processes in the Analysis of Hierarchical Structure

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Abstract
Targets are identified faster if they appear at the same level (global vs. local) as the target on the previous trial. This effect has been attributed to a controlled attentional process wherein participants attend to the level containing the target on trial n — 1, thus facilitating performance if target level repeats on trial n. An alternative explanation (Lamb & Yund, 1996) is that automatic activation of level-specific neural mechanisms is responsible. The controlled-process hypothesis predicts better performance whenever target level is predictable, because participants can anticipate, and thus attend to, the appropriate level. The automatic-process hypothesis predicts better performance when target level repeats, regardless of target-level predictability. In the present studies, level repetitions facilitated performance regardless of target-level predictability. The data support the automatic-process explanation of level repetition and other attentional effects. The data illustrate how an automatic process can give rise to performance that seems to reflect more cognitive or strategic mechanisms.