Registered Report Stage II: disentangling task conflict and information conflict in the stroop task

• Novel Stroop design dissociates task conflict from information conflict. • Controlled frequencies eliminate contingency learning confounds. • Task conflict arises independently of information conflict. • Information conflict amplifies task conflict under low proactive control. • Task conflict is automatic yet sensitive to contextual control demands. A central question in cognitive control research is whether different forms of conflict operate independently or depend on one another. Specifically, it remains unclear whether task conflict can arise without information conflict. Task conflict is defined as a conflict arising from the automatic activation of an irrelevant task, while information conflict is defined as a conflict between two contradictory pieces of information. The present registered report addresses the independence question using a modified Stroop task that separates task from information conflict while controlling for contingency learning. Participants (N = 500) were randomly assigned to one of four list-type conditions that varied in proactive task control demands and in the presence or absence of incongruent trials (where the color-word stimuli appeared in a contradictory color): mostly symbols with congruent colors, mostly symbols with incongruent colors, mostly words with congruent colors, and mostly words with incongruent colors. Task conflict was indexed by the word interference effect, defined as the reaction time difference between neutral words and neutral shapes. Results showed that task conflict emerged even in the absence of information conflict. The magnitude of task conflict increased when incongruent trials were introduced but only under low-control conditions, suggesting that the presence of information conflict amplified rather than reduced the behavioral expression of task conflict. In contrast, under high-control contexts, task conflict was absent and unaffected by incongruent trials. These findings demonstrate that task conflict can arise independently of information conflict but that its strength is shaped by the broader cognitive control context.