Memory-guided selective attention: Evidence for context-specific control using the trial-unique Stroop task.

Stroop effects can be influenced by context-specific cues associated with varying levels of proportion congruency, even for items that occur with equal frequency in each context. This theoretically important result points to the involvement of a cue-driven memory process in the dynamic updating of selective attention. However, attempts to replicate this result have been challenging, potentially due to limitations or confounds in the experimental design, or difficulties in inducing context-specific learning due to the presence of other dominant item-specific cues. The present study aimed to re-evaluate the memory-guided hypothesis using the trial-unique Stroop paradigm, where each trial consists of a unique stimulus and response that never reappear throughout the experiment, thereby preventing trial-to-trial associative regularities. One context was associated with high conflict (20% proportion congruency), and the other with low conflict (80% proportion congruency). The primary finding indicated that trials within the low conflict context exhibited larger congruency effects compared to those in the high conflict context. These results align with the memory-guided selective attention hypothesis, suggesting that selective attention priorities may become associated with contextual cues and are automatically reinstated through a memory retrieval process.