What is learned, and when? Commentary on "the musical stroop effect: opening a new avenue to research on automatisms" by l. Grégoire, P. Perruchet, and B. Poulin-Charronnat (Experimental Psychology, 2013, vol. 60, pp. 269­278).

ABSTRACT

In the musical Stroop task, which has recently been introduced by Grégoire, Perruchet, and Poulin-Charronat (2013), participants respond to note names that are placed inside musical notes. Musicians respond more slowly to note names that are incongruent with the note than to note names that are congruent with the note. Grégoire et al. propose to use this task to study the acquisition of automaticity by relating musical Stroop effects to the amount of musical experience. I discuss some caveats that have to be considered for these types of analyses. Specifically, I focus on how different contingencies in the learning situation relate to the Stroop effect and on the question whether a long-term perspective is suitable for studying the acquisition of automaticity.