Cognitive psychology findings that passed a stringent replicability test (2017) | Hacker News Reader

Cognitive psychology findings that passed a stringent replicability test (2017)

digest.bps.org.uk

106 pointskvee7 comments

The findings may hold, but the conclusions? E.g., take the blurb about the Flanker task:

> The task shows how we can’t help but process irrelevant information to a certain degree.

No, it doesn't. Not with the given information. At best, it shows that we don't blank out the area around the target. Is that "irrelevant information"? No. In this particular experiment perhaps, but if that's what the conclusion is based on, then that conclusion is limited to one specific artificial task. And while that is relevant for other research, it is not a general conclusion about our cognitive system.

But basically what most of these experiments show is that the influence of priming/recency on reaction times is real, and it's not surprising: everybody finds it, although there is ample evidence that in some conditions slows down reaction. But that's it. There's no evidence in this list that priming extends to other parts of our behavior. Don't forget that the next time someone tries to draw far-reaching conclusions from e.g. the Implicit Association Test.

> The finding shows how information that’s not consciously perceived can affect our behaviour, and that it can have an opposite effect when subliminal than when consciously perceived.

This seems to be a wildly strong claim relative to everything else in the article

Say you’re watching TV and an ad pops up for a brand of Soda. If you’re like me, you’ll get unconvinced and annoyed at and of anything, you’ll explicitly look out not to buy the brand.

But say you’re watching a show and the actors in the show drink that brand of Soda when they are thirsty. I can see how that subliminal advertising actually works, the brand is more familiar to you and familiarity makes you end up buying it instead of another brand.

So subliminal messaging can affect our behavior and differently than if the message was explicitly presented to us. That doesn’t mean flashing “but this product” in single frames or any other crazy barely perceptible “subliminal” messaging works. And the type of advertising nowadays everyone hates is especially not subliminal.

It's a very small effect in practice, but it indeed holds up. Although, "opposite effect" seems an overstatement when the most robustly replicated priming studies show a positive effect (subconscious cues aid recognition of semantically similar content).

The distracting stimuli finding—and the fact that processing irrelevant info—slows us down is interesting to think about in the context of trying to make decisions under stress

Spacing Effect, Associative Priming and Repetition Priming is an observation, meta data if you like, of the chemical effects and biology of the eyes, nervous system and brain. These computers know more about you than you even know about yourself.

Needs a (2017) although it definitely still seems relevant.

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