We investigated the processes underlying stimulus-response compatibility by using a lateralized auditory stimulus in a simple and choice reaction time (RT) paradigm. Participants were asked to make either a left or right key lift in response to either a control (80dB) or startling (124dB) stimulus presented to either the left ear, right ear, or…

When the bottom halves of two faces differ, people's behavioral judgment of the identical top halves of those faces is impaired: they report that the top halves are different, and/or take more time than usual to provide a response. This behavioral measure is known as the composite face effect (CFE) and has traditionally been taken as evidence that…

We investigated whether directed forgetting as elicited by the item-cueing method results solely from "differential rehearsal" of to-be-remembered vs. to-be-forgotten words or, additionally, from "inhibitory" processes that actively impair retrieval of to-be-forgotten words. During study, participants (N = 24) were instructed to remember half of a…