eprintid: 54620 rev_number: 16 eprint_status: archive userid: 7581 dir: disk0/00/05/46/20 datestamp: 2026-10-06 08:37:18 lastmod: 2026-10-06 08:37:18 status_changed: 2026-10-06 08:37:18 type: article metadata_visibility: show creators_name: Horváth, Kata creators_name: Nemeth, Dezso creators_name: Janacsek, Karolina creators_name: Kóbor, Andrea creators_id: kj0649d creators_banner_id: 7581 creators_orcid: 0000-0001-7829-8220 title: Coupling between statistical learning and interference suppression ispublished: pub subjects: BF subjects: HA divisions: faculty_3 divisions: edu_dept7 divisions: edu_rg9 divisions: edu_dept5 keywords: statistical learning, executive functions, competitive memory systems, Flanker task, ASRT note: Open access funding provided by HUN-REN Research Centre for Natural Sciences. The authors thank the help of Kristóf Simon Mikó and Dorottya Denke in data acquisition. They also thank the help of Zsófia Kardos and Ádám Takács for their insightful suggestions regarding the experimental design and the interpretation of the findings. Additionally, Zsófia Kardos was responsible for the creation of the stimuli. abstract: In an ever-changing environment, synchronizing automatic and controlled behaviors is essential for successful adaptation. Yet, the relationship between these behaviors is often debated, partly because of the diverse approaches used to investigate them. The present study examined how statistical learning of environmental regularities, a process that supports automatic behaviors, and interference suppression, which contributes to controlled responding in the presence of distraction, interact when both operate concurrently. Participants completed a visual four-choice reaction time paradigm that combined a statistical learning task with the Eriksen flanker task. In this novel paradigm, a central target stimulus, surrounded by flanker stimuli, was either predictable or unpredictable based on the statistical regularities induced by the sequence of target stimuli. Statistical learning was indexed by the performance difference between predictable and unpredictable trials, whereas interference suppression was reflected by the flanker congruency effect (i.e., the performance difference between congruent and incongruent trials). Reaction times revealed a significant interaction: the flanker congruency effect was reduced on predictable trials, and the behavioral expression of statistical knowledge was larger in the incongruent than in the congruent condition. Together, these findings provide a proof-of-concept demonstration of a behavioral interaction between statistical learning and interference suppression within the present paradigm. Although this experimental design does not establish the causal direction of the interaction, the observed pattern indicates that learned predictability is associated with a reduced cost of conflicting distractors. date: 2026-09-04 date_type: published publisher: Springer id_number: 10.1007/s00426-026-02375-6 official_url: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-026-02375-6 creators_browse_id: 7581 online_issn: 1430-2772 funded_project: TRUE full_text_status: public publication: Psychological Research volume: 90 article_number: 160 refereed: TRUE issn: 0340-0727 funders: Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Office grant (NKFIH FK 124412) funders: Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Office grant (NKFIH ADVANCED 153150) funders: National Brain Research Program by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (project NAP2022-I-1/2022) funders: János Bolyai Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences funders: French National Research Agency (ANR-24-CE37-5807) dates_date: 2026-09-04 dates_date: 2026-08-27 dates_date: 2026-09-04 dates_date_type: published dates_date_type: accepted dates_date_type: published_online hoa_compliant: 511 hoa_ref_pan: AB hoa_date_acc: 2026-08-27 hoa_date_pub: 2026-09-04 hoa_date_fcd: 2026-10-05 hoa_date_foa: 2026-10-06 hoa_version_fcd: VoR hoa_exclude: FALSE hoa_gold: TRUE rioxx2_license_ref_input_license_ref: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rioxx2_license_ref_input_start_date: 2026-09-04 rioxx2_apc_input: not required rioxx2_project_input_project: NKFIH FK 124412 rioxx2_project_input_project: NKFIH ADVANCED 153150 rioxx2_project_input_project: NAP2022-I-1/2022 rioxx2_project_input_project: JBRS rioxx2_project_input_project: HAS/0021 rioxx2_project_input_project: FNRA/001 rioxx2_project_input_funder_name: Other rioxx2_project_input_funder_name: Other rioxx2_project_input_funder_name: Other rioxx2_project_input_funder_name: Other rioxx2_project_input_funder_name: Other rioxx2_project_input_funder_name: Other rioxx2_project_input_funder_id: http://gala.gre.ac.uk rioxx2_project_input_funder_id: http://gala.gre.ac.uk rioxx2_project_input_funder_id: http://gala.gre.ac.uk rioxx2_project_input_funder_id: http://gala.gre.ac.uk rioxx2_project_input_funder_id: http://gala.gre.ac.uk rioxx2_project_input_funder_id: http://gala.gre.ac.uk citation: Horváth, Kata, Nemeth, Dezso, Janacsek, Karolina and Kóbor, Andrea (2026) Coupling between statistical learning and interference suppression. Psychological Research, 90:160. ISSN 0340-0727 (Print), 1430-2772 (Online) (doi:10.1007/s00426-026-02375-6 ) document_url: https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/54620/7/54620%20JANACSEK_Coupling_Between_Statistical_Learning_And_Interference_Suppressiong_%28OA%29_2026.pdf