Implicit Association Measurement with the IAT: Evidence for effects of executive control processes

It is argued that a model of goal-independent spreading activation in a soc ial or semantic knowledge structure is insufficient to explain implicit ass ociation effects in the IAT (Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998). An alter native account is proposed, which attributes IAT effects to differential co sts for switching between task sets. Two experiments were conduced to test this account. In Experiment 1, specific task-set switching cost was a funct ion of IAT condition: switching between tasks was associated with significa ntly more cost in the incompatible IAT phase. In a second experiment the ma gnitude of the IAT effect was reduced when task-set reconfiguration was pos sible in advance of or simultaneously with the upcoming stimulus. The resul ts are discussed with respect to recently suggested accounts of the effect.