Stimulus-Elicited Involuntary Cognition: Boundary Conditions and Systematic Effects.

For decades, researchers have been presenting participants with stimuli and instructing the participants not to respond to the stimuli in some way. Today, researchers are studying the effects that such stimuli have, not only on behavior, but on conscious experience. To this end, researchers have used several laboratory tasks, including the reflexive imagery task (RIT). In the RIT, participants are instructed not to respond in a specific way to stimuli. Participants often cannot suppress such responses. Knowledge of the conditions under which RIT effects fail to arise can illuminate the limitations of involuntary processes. We observed that the RIT effect can survive with brand symbols (Experiment 1, n = 30), which are different from everyday objects in interesting ways. In addition, we investigated systematic effects. Systematic effects are unlikely to be due to experimental demand. In Experiment 2 (n = 48), we observed that RIT effects could arise from associations learned, not across the participant's lifetime, but only in the laboratory. Participants studied nonsense shapes that were associated with pseudowords that preceded or followed the shapes. Afterward, these new associations led to RIT effects. In addition, RIT effects were more likely for pseudowords that preceded the shapes rather than for the pseudowords that followed the shapes (a systematic effect). In Experiment 3 (n = 46), systematic effects involving two sensory modalities were observed: olfactory stimuli were more likely to elicit involuntary visual imagery than visual stimuli were to elicit involuntary olfactory imagery. We discuss the theoretical implications of these effects.

Insuppressible cognitions in the reflexive imagery task: Insights and future directions.

In 1959, Neal Miller made the bold claim that the Stimulus-Response, Behaviorist models of that era were describing the way in which stimuli lead to the entry of contents into consciousness ("entry," for short). Today, researchers have begun to investigate the link between external stimuli and involuntary entry, using paradigms such as the reflexive imagery task (RIT), the focus of our review. The RIT has revealed that stimuli can elicit insuppressible entry of high-level cognitions. Knowledge of the boundary conditions of the RIT effect illuminates the limitations of involuntary processes and the role of consciousness in the regulation of behavior. We review the boundary conditions of this paradigm as well as its systematic effects. Systematic effects are unlikely to be due to experimental demand. While reviewing each effect, we consider its theoretical implications. In addition, throughout our review, we discuss future directions for the study of insuppressible entry using the RIT. Last, we discuss a theoretical development (passive frame theory) that stems from the RIT and illuminates how involuntary entry and encapsulation, though at times disadvantageous for the actor, are essential for adaptive action selection during the course of ontogeny.