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Irrelevant Task Difficulty Modulates the Emergence of Task Conflict Cover

Irrelevant Task Difficulty Modulates the Emergence of Task Conflict

Open Access
|Jan 2026

Figures & Tables

Table 1

Examples of Stimuli that Were Used in Exp. 1.

CONDITION1 COLOR2 COLORS3 COLORS4 COLORS
Congruentjoc-9-1-475-g2.jpgjoc-9-1-475-g3.jpgjoc-9-1-475-g4.jpgjoc-9-1-475-g5.jpg
Neutraljoc-9-1-475-g6.jpgjoc-9-1-475-g7.jpgjoc-9-1-475-g8.jpgjoc-9-1-475-g9.jpg
Incongruentjoc-9-1-475-g10.jpgjoc-9-1-475-g11.jpgjoc-9-1-475-g12.jpgjoc-9-1-475-g13.jpg

[i] Note. For the neutral condition, horizontal colored slices containing 1–4 colors were used. For both the congruent and incongruent conditions, an additional white single digit (1–4) was embedded at the center of the colored slices (the entire set of stimuli can be downloaded from https://osf.io/f27j8/?view_only=c94d9d6d718d4883b30f991c8a2cd1f0).

joc-9-1-475-g1.png
Figure 1

Schematic Representation of an Experimental Trial.

Note. Participants were asked to indicate how many colors were present on the displayed stimulus (four in the example shown).

Table 2

Mean Reaction Time and Error Rates for Each Congruency Condition in Experiments. 1–4.

STIMULUS TYPEMEAN RT (MS)95% CI (MS)ERROR RATES (%)95% CI (%)
Exp. 1
    Congruent585556–6143.762.43–5.09
    Neutral596568–6244.332.73–5.94
    Incongruent637602–6726.334.95–7.72
Exp. 2
    Congruent605580–63012.359.01–15.69
    Neutral602577–62711.078.11–14.04
    Incongruent640609–67217.3013.93–20.68
Exp. 3
    Congruent637610–66314.1410.94–17.33
    Neutral618594–64312.629.54–15.70
    Incongruent655626–68317.5614.39–20.80
Exp. 4
    Digits560526–59418.9311.08–26.78
    Words602567–63721.8313.96–29.69
    Gestalt words637601–67327.9019.34–35.86

[i] Note. RT = reaction time. CI represents 95% confidence intervals.

Table 3

Examples of Stimuli that Were Used in Exp. 2.

CONDITION1 COLOR2 COLORS3 COLORS4 COLORS
Congruentjoc-9-1-475-g14.jpgjoc-9-1-475-g15.jpgjoc-9-1-475-g16.jpgjoc-9-1-475-g17.jpg
Neutraljoc-9-1-475-g18.jpgjoc-9-1-475-g19.jpgjoc-9-1-475-g20.jpgjoc-9-1-475-g21.jpg
Incongruentjoc-9-1-475-g22.jpgjoc-9-1-475-g23.jpgjoc-9-1-475-g24.jpgjoc-9-1-475-g25.jpg
Incongruent (English example)joc-9-1-475-g26.jpgjoc-9-1-475-g27.jpgjoc-9-1-475-g28.jpgjoc-9-1-475-g29.jpg

[i] Note. For the neutral condition, horizontal colored slices containing 1–4 colors were used. For both the congruent and incongruent conditions, the Hebrew number words אחת (Akhat, “one”), שתיים (Shtaim, “two”), שלוש (Shalosh, “three”), and ארבע (Arba, “four”) were cut into horizontal slices that could each contain 1–4 colors (the entire set of stimuli can be downloaded from https://osf.io/f27j8/?view_only=c94d9d6d718d4883b30f991c8a2cd1f0).

Table 4

Examples of Stimuli that Were Used in Exp. 3.

CONDITION1 COLOR2 COLORS3 COLORS4 COLORS
Congruentjoc-9-1-475-g30.jpgjoc-9-1-475-g31.jpgjoc-9-1-475-g32.jpgjoc-9-1-475-g33.jpg
Neutraljoc-9-1-475-g34.jpgjoc-9-1-475-g35.jpgjoc-9-1-475-g36.jpgjoc-9-1-475-g37.jpg
Incongruentjoc-9-1-475-g38.jpgjoc-9-1-475-g39.jpgjoc-9-1-475-g40.jpgjoc-9-1-475-g41.jpg
Incongruent (English example)joc-9-1-475-g42.jpgjoc-9-1-475-g43.jpgjoc-9-1-475-g44.jpgjoc-9-1-475-g45.jpg

[i] Note. For the neutral condition, horizontal colored slices containing 1–4 colors were used. For both the congruent and incongruent conditions, a white Hebrew number word (Akhat, “one”), שתיים (Shtaim, “two”), שלוש (Shalosh, “three”), and ארבע (Arba, “four”) was embedded at the center of the colored slices (the entire set of stimuli can be downloaded from https://osf.io/f27j8/?view_only=c94d9d6d718d4883b30f991c8a2cd1f0).

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/joc.475 | Journal eISSN: 2514-4820
Language: English
Submitted on: Apr 15, 2025
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Accepted on: Nov 22, 2025
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Published on: Jan 7, 2026
Published by: Ubiquity Press
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 1 issue per year

© 2026 Ronen Hershman, Eldad Keha, Lisa Beckmann, Avishai Henik, Ayelet Sapir, published by Ubiquity Press
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.