Mh. Thibodeau et al., THE EXTENSION OF THE INTERFERENCE EFFECT TO MULTIPLICATION, Canadian journal of experimental psychology, 50(4), 1996, pp. 393-396
Using multiplication facts, this experiment demonstrated an interferen
ce effect in the number-matching task. Here, subjects verified the pre
sence of a target number (e.g., 8) in a previously presented cue (e.g.
, 5 x 8) that was masked after 60 ms. The SOAs between cue and target
were 100, 120, 220, and 350 ms. Subjects were slower to reject targets
that were the product of the cue (e.g., 40) than to reject unrelated
targets (e.g., 42), but this was true only at the 100- and 120-ms SOAs
(i.e., the interference effect). This pattern is consistent with the
interference effect found by LeFevre and colleagues using addition fac
ts. Furthermore, the present result supports the interpretation that t
he interference effect previously found with addition facts was due to
obligatory activation and not to automatic counting.