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Originalia

Implicit Association Measurement with the IAT: Evidence for Effects of Executive Control Processes

Published Online:September 01, 2006https://doi.org/10.1026//0949-3946.48.2.107

Abstract

Abstract. It is argued that a model of goal-independent spreading activation in a social or semantic knowledge structure is insufficient to explain implicit association effects in the IAT (Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998). An alternative account is proposed, which attributes IAT effects to differential costs for switching between task sets. Two experiments were conduced to test this account. In Experiment 1, specific task-set switching cost was a function of IAT condition: switching between tasks was associated with significantly more cost in the incompatible IAT phase. In a second experiment the magnitude of the IAT effect was reduced when task-set reconfiguration was possible in advance of or simultaneously with the upcoming stimulus. The results are discussed with respect to recently suggested accounts of the effect.


“Implizite Assoziationsmessung mit dem IAT: Evidenz für Effekte exekutiver Kontrollprozesse

Zusammenfassung. Es wird argumentiert, dass ein Modell zielunabhängiger Aktivierungsausbreitung in einem sozialen oder semantischen Netzwerk nicht ausreicht, um Assoziationseffekte im IAT (Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998) zu erklären. Ein alternativer Ansatz wird vorgeschlagen, der IAT Effekte auf bedingungsanhängige Aufgabenwechselkosten zurückführt. Zwei Experimente prüfen diesen Ansatz. Im ersten Experiment zeigte sich, dass spezifische Aufgabenwechselkosten eine Funktion der IAT-Bedingung sind: Aufgabenwechsel waren in der inkompatiblen IAT-Bedingung mit bedeutsam höheren Kosten verbunden. In einem zweiten Experiment war das Ausmaó des IAT-Effekts reduziert, wenn die Möglichkeit zu vorbereitender oder simultaner Einstellung auf den Aufgabenwechsel gegeben wurde. Die Ergebnisse werden im Hinblick auf aktuelle Erklärungsmodelle des Effekts diskutiert.

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