Introspection and verbal reports on cognitive processes—Two approaches to the study of thinking: A response to Howe

Ericsson, K. Anders; Crutcher, Robert J.

doi:10.1016/0732-118x(91)90041-j

Cited by 109 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…12 Histograms illustrating the capture differences among participants for the contingent capture measures. Black bars represent participants who demonstrated a pattern consistent with attention capture, and white represents a pattern not consistent with capture tasks and among observers in attention-capture paradigms (Ericsson & Crutcher, 1991). These differences might relate to task reliability and the degree of capture observed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do different attention capture paradigms measure different types of capture?

Roque

Wright

Boot

2016

Atten Percept Psychophys

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When something captures our attention, why does it do so? This topic has been hotly debated, with some arguing that attention is captured only by salient stimuli (bottom-up view) and others arguing capture is always due to a match between a stimulus and our goals (top-down view). Many different paradigms have provided evidence for 1 view or the other. If either of these strong views are correct, then capture represents a unitary phenomenon, and there should be a high correlation between capture in these paradigms. But if there are different types of capture (top-down, bottom-up), then some attention capture effects should be correlated and some should not. In 2 studies, we collected data from several paradigms used in support of claims of top-down and bottomup capture in relatively large samples of participants. Contrary to either prediction, measures of capture were not strongly correlated. Results suggest that capture may in fact be strongly determined by idiosyncratic task demands and strategies. Relevant to this lack of relations among tasks, we observed that classic measures of attention capture demonstrated low reliability, especially among measures used to support bottomup capture. Implications for the low reliability of capture measures are discussed. We also observed that the proportion of participants demonstrating a pattern of responses consistent with capture varied widely among classic measures of capture. Overall, results demonstrate that, even for relatively simple laboratory measures of attention, there are still important gaps in knowledge regarding what these paradigms measure and how they are related.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do different attention capture paradigms measure different types of capture?

Roque

Wright

Boot

2016

Atten Percept Psychophys

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“…Even more devastatingly, introspective reports by observers with different theoretical backgrounds differed systematically for some phenomena and there were no available methods to attain consensus. This inability to find objective methods to resolve disagreements about introspective analyses of thinking forced researchers to abandon the introspective method in scientific studies of cognition (Ericsson and Crutcher, 1991;Simon, 1984/1993).…”

Section: A Brief History Of the Problem Of Verbal Description Of Expementioning

confidence: 99%

Towards a procedure for eliciting verbal expression of non‐verbal experience without reactivity: interpreting the verbal overshadowing effect within the theoretical framework for protocol analysis

Ericsson

2002

Applied Cognitive Psychology

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The reactive effects of verbal overshadowing are discussed within Ericsson and Simon's (1980, 1984 theoretical framework, which guided the design of procedures that elicit valid and nonreactive verbal reports. These procedures encourage participants to give free verbal expression to their thoughts. In contrast, the procedures in the verbal overshadowing paradigm require participants to produce prescribed types of verbalizations. Participants are explicitly told how to verbally describe the face, namely 'to describe each facial feature in as much detail as possible' and to continue doing so for the full 5 minutes. The reactive effects of 'verbal overshadowing' can be linked to the requirement of producing prescribed types of verbalizations and are thus not caused merely by spontaneous verbal expression of one's thoughts.In any criminal investigation it is critical that eyewitnesses are interviewed to gain as much information as possible to describe and identify potential suspects. It is well known that leading and probing questions can lead to biased and invalid information that might even influence the eyewitness's subsequent memory of the events. However, it is only more recently that Schooler and Engstler-Schooler (1990) demonstrated that merely having a witness provide an extended and detailed verbal description of a suspect can by itself reduce the accuracy of the eyewitness' subsequent recognition-the verbal overshadowing effect. However, in a recent meta-analysis Meissner and Brigham (2001) summarized the results from numerous studies and found only a small general effect of overshadowing, and that the particular type of procedures or instructions used to induce the verbal descriptions had much stronger effects. Similarly the contributors to this special issue do not agree on the specific cognitive processes that mediate the verbal overshadowing effect. From my perspective, there are many interesting parallels between this state of affairs and the state of affairs for research on the effects and validity of verbal reports in the late 1970s. In this commentary I will try to relate and integrate the recent work on overshadowing to the theoretical framework that Herb Simon and I (Ericsson and Simon, 1980,

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“…Ericsson & Crutcher, 1991). Inexperiments on free recall, for example, it is possible to validate reports concerning the use of organizational schemata against patterns or clusters seen in the recall protocols (see Marton, 1970;Roberts, 1968).…”

Section: Possible Problems With Mediator Reports Mediator Reports As mentioning

confidence: 99%

The availability and effectiveness of reported mediators in associative learning: A historical review and an experimental investigation

Richardson

1998

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

120

137

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This paper provides a historical review and empirical investigation of the availability and the effectiveness of different types of mediator in associative learning, as inferred from subjects' retrospective reports. Mental imagery is a preferred mediational strategy in the learning of pairs of common concrete nouns, and its use is associated with a high level of recall performance. Its availability and its effectiveness are both enhanced if subjects are given interactive imagery instructions. It is argued that retrospective mediator reports provide valid accounts of the cognitive processes that occur at the time of learning and that playa causal role in determining the subsequent level of retention.A fundamental notion in memory research over the last 40 years is the idea that people engage in cognitive processing that determines how well the information in question is remembered. These cognitive activities are generally thought to be under strategic control and available to conscious awareness. It follows that they can be manipulated by giving instructions to experimental subjects to set about learning in different ways, and that they can be studied by asking people to describe how they have in fact set about particular learning tasks. These latter accounts are of interest in their own right and also provide a means of checking whether subjects have actually complied with instructions to use different learning strategies.One of the earliest studies to collect such accounts was described by Reed (1918aReed ( , 1918b. He asked 27 subjects to learn four sets of paired associates: two sets consisted of unrelated pairs of English words, the third set consisted of German words paired with their English translations, and the fourth set contained pairs of consonant-vowelconsonant (CYe) nonsense syllables. (The subjects were apparently not familiar with German.) When the subjects were asked how they had tried to remember the pairs of words, they tended to report associative aids based on shared semantic features or on linking images or phrases; however, in the case of the other sets, they were more likely to report the use oflinking English words that were phonemically similar to the pair as a whole.

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Introspection and verbal reports on cognitive processes—Two approaches to the study of thinking: A response to Howe

Cited by 109 publications

References 8 publications

Do different attention capture paradigms measure different types of capture?

Do different attention capture paradigms measure different types of capture?

Towards a procedure for eliciting verbal expression of non‐verbal experience without reactivity: interpreting the verbal overshadowing effect within the theoretical framework for protocol analysis

The availability and effectiveness of reported mediators in associative learning: A historical review and an experimental investigation

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