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Tzelgov,
Joseph
Ph.D.: 1981,
A member of the Department of Psychology,
at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
Research interests: Automaticity of psychological processes; skill acquisition; consciousness; numerical cognition; bilingual language processing; methodology & statistics of psychological research.
Dominant Themes in My Research
While human information processing in many domains is
regarded as automatic (see Tzelgov & Yehene, 2006, for a review), the
classical definition of automaticity as: a) resource free, b) autonomous and
thereby not controllable, and c) unconscious, has been challenged during the
last decades.
We (see Friedrich, Henik, & Tzelgov, 1991;
Friedrich, Henik, Tzelgov, & Tramer, 1994), among others, have shown that
automatic processing is not resource free and that automatic processing is
controlled (see Tzelgov, Henik, & Leiser, 1990; Tzelgov, Henik, &
Berger, 1992). In fact, this control is apparently "automatic" in the
sense defined below (see Tzelgov & Pinku, 2009; Tzelgov & Cohen-Kadosh,
in press).
Our work (Tzelgov, Porat, & Henik, 1997) leads
to the conclusion that we are aware of the stimuli that are automatically
processed. I have pointed out the importance of decoupling the concepts of
consciousness and automaticity (Tzelgov, 1997a, 1997b). This led me to a
"minimalist" definition of automaticity (Tzelgov, 1997; Tzelgov,
Yehene, & Naveh-Benjamin, 1997) according to which a process is automatic
if it runs without being consciously monitored. This does not imply (as is most
frequently claimed) that automatic processing is unconscious. One line of my
current research effort is the theoretical analysis of the relations between
consciousness and automaticity (Tzelgov, 2000; Pinku & Tzelgov, 2006) and
those between automaticity and control (Tzelgov & Pinku, 2009; Tzelgov
& Cohen Kadosh, in press),
Automaticity as processing without monitoring is
hard to see when the process in question is part of the task's requirement.
Therefore, in my work during the last years (e.g., Tzelgov, Meyer, & Henik,
1992; Tzelgov, Henik, Sneg, & Baruch, 1996; Tzelgov, Yehene, Kotler, &
Alon, 2000; Perlman & Tzelgov, 2006; Poznanski & Tzelgov, in press), I
have emphasized the distinction between intentional and autonomous automatic
processing (Tzelgov, 1997).
Automatic processing is intentional when the
process in question is part of a task's requirement. Automatic processing is
autonomous when it is not part of a task's requirement. The Stroop effect is a
paradigmatic case of autonomous automatic processing because it indicates that
we are reading a word even if it is not part of the task requirements.
Recent theorizing by my colleagues and myself (e.g.,
Tzelgov, 1997b, 1999) proposes using autonomous processing, indicated in Stroop-like
phenomena, as a defining feature of automaticity (Tzelgov, 2000). Thus, I
believe that showing that a process is active in the autonomous processing mode
is the necessary and sufficient condition for defining it as automatic. Taking
the processing in the autonomous mode as a working definition of automaticity,
I am investigating the mechanisms of skill-based automatic processing.
Contemporary approaches view skill-based
automatization either as (quantitative) improvement in the procedures used to
perform a skill, or as a qualitative change—switching
from mental computations to memory retrieval. We have argued in the past
(Tzelgov, Yehene, & Naveh-Benjamin, 1997) that in important domains, such
as processing numerical information (see Tzelgov, Meyer, & Henik, 1992,) or
reading (Tzelgov, Henik, Sneg, & Baruch, 1996; Bibi, Tzelgov, & Henik,
2000; Tzelgov, et al., 2000) may have
both memory retrieval and computational components. Recently, I believe more
and more that a general memory-based mechanism could be enough to describe
automatization and automatic processing.
In addition, we are extending the minimalist
approach to define automaticity in the context of implicit learning, in
particular, using the paradigms of sequence learning (Perlman & Tzelgov,
2006; Perlman & Tzelgov, 2009) and artificial grammar (Poznanski &
Tzelgov , in press). We apply our approach to automaticity in various domains
such as emotion (Okon-Singer, Tzelgov, & Henik, 2007), language processing
(e.g., Berent, Pinker, Tzelgov, Bibi, & Goldfarb, 2005; Berent, Tzelgov,
& Bibi, in press; Goldfarb & Tzelgov, 2007), perception (Goldfarb &
Tzelgov, 2005) and numerical processing (e.g., Tzelgov & Ganor-Stern, 2004,
2009; Cohen Kadosh, Tzelgov, & Henik, 2008). In particular, my recent
experimental effort focuses on understanding the acquisition and representation
of non-single digit and non-natural numbers such as fractions and negative
numbers. In this context, we use markers of automatic processing as indicators
for the use of "complex" numbers e.g., 2-digit numbers (Ganor-Stern, Tzelgov, &
Ellenbogen, 2007; Ganor-Stern &Tzelgov, 2008a, in press b; Tzelgov &
Ganor-Stern, in press) , negative numbers (Tzelgov & Ganor-Stern, 2009) or
fractions (Kallai & Tzelgov, in press)
as primitives of mental
representation. To be more precise, I assume that primitives are stored as such
in long memory and consequently are retrieved from memory rather than compiled
on line. The pictures emerging at this point constrain the set of numerical
primitives to single digits and a "GeF" (generalized fraction, see
Kallai & Tzelgov, in press). Our research also shows that practice results in unitizing sequence of required movement into chunks that
are represented and performed as single
units (Perlman, Edwards, Pothos, & Tzelgov, in press). Another line of my
research focuses on methodology and statistics, and in particular, on the
concept of suppressors in psychological research (see Tzelgov & Henik,
1991).
Typical publications
Tzelgov, J., & Henik, A. (1991). Suppression
situations in psychological research: definitions, implications and
applications. Psychological Bulletin, 109, 524-536.
Tzelgov,
J., Henik, A., Sneg, R., & Baruch, O. (1996). Unintentional reading
via the phonological route: Stroop effect with cross-script-homophones. Journal
of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 22, 336-349.
Tzelgov, J. (1997a). Automatic but conscious: That
is how we act most of the time. In R. Wyer (Ed.), Advances in social cognition,
Vol. X. (pp. 217-230).
Tzelgov, J. (1997b). Specifying the relations
between automaticity and consciousness: A theoretical note. Consciousness
and Cognition, 6, 441-451.
Tzelgov, J., Henik, A., & Porat, Z. (1997).
Automaticity and consciousness: Is perceiving the word necessary for reading
it? American Journal of Psychology, 3, 429-448.
Tzelgov, J. (1999). Automaticity and processing
without awareness. Psyche(5), April. http://psyche.cs.monash.edu.au/v5/psyche-5-05-tzelgov.html.
Bibi,
U., Tzelgov, J., & Henik, A. (2000). Stroop effect in words that
differ from color words in one letter only. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review,
7, 678-683.
Tzelgov, J. (2000). On processing in the
inattention paradigm as automatic. Psyche(6),
December. http://psyche.cs.monash.edu.au/v6/psyche-6-17-tzelgov.html.
Tzelgov,
J., Yehene, V., Kotler, L., & Alon, A. (2000). Automatizing
algorithmic processing: The learning of linear ordering relations. Journal
of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 26, 103-120.
Gotler,
A., Meiran, N., & Tzelgov, J. (2003). Nonintentional task-set activation:
Evidence from implicit task sequence learning. Psychonomic Bulletin and
Review, 10, 890-896.
Tzelgov,
J., & Ganor-Stern, D. (2005). Automaticity in processing ordinal
information. In J. I. D. Campbell (Ed.), Handbook of mathematical cognition
(pp. 239-261).
Berent,
Goldfarb, L., & Tzelgov, J. (2005). Are
monocular distance cues and size perception based on automatic perception? Psychonomic
Bulletin and Review, 12, 751-754.
Berent, I., Tzelgov, J., & Bibi, U. (2006). The autonomous
computation of morphological structure in reading: Evidence from the Stroop
task. Mental Lexicon, 1, 201-230.
Perlman, A., & Tzelgov, J. (2006). Interaction
between encoding and retrieval in the domain of sequence learning. Journal
of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 32, 118-130.
Pinku, G., & Tzelgov, J. (2006). Consciousness
of the self (COS) and explicit knowledge. Consciousness & Cognition, 15,
655-661.
Tzelgov, J., & Yehene, V. (2006).
Automaticity and skill. In
Ganor-Stern, D., Tzelgov, J., & Ellenbogen, R.
(2007). The representation of two-digit numbers. Journal of Experimental
Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 33, 483-496.
Goldfarb, L., & Tzelgov, J. (2007). The cause
of the within language Stroop Superiority Effect and its implications. Quarterly
Journal of Experimental Psychology, 60, 179-185.
Okon-Singer, H., Tzelgov, J., & Henik, A.
(2007). Distinguishing between automaticity and attention in the processing of
emotionally significant stimuli. Emotion, 7, 147-157.
Cohen-Kadosh, R., Tzelgov, J., & Henik, A.
(2008). A synesthetic walk on the mental number line: The size effect. Cognition,
106, 548-557.
Ganor-Stern, D., & Tzelgov, J. (2008a).
Negative numbers are generated in the mind. Experimental Psychology, 55, 157-169.
Ganor-Stern, D., & Tzelgov, J. (2008b).
Across-notation automatic numerical processing. Journal of Experimental
Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 34, 430-437.
Perlman, A., & Tzelgov, J. (2009). Automatic
mode of acquisition of spatial sequences in serial reaction time paradigm. Psychological
Research,73, 98-106.
Tzelgov, J., & Ganor-Stern, D. (2009). The
representation of negative numbers: exploring the effects of mode of processing
and notation. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 62, 605-624.
Tzelgov, J., & Pinku, G. (2009). Cognitive
control and consciousness. In T. Bayne, P.
Wilken, & A. Cleeremans (Eds.), The
Kallai, A. & Tzelgov, J. (in press) A generalized fraction: the
smallest member of the mental number line. Journal of Experimental
Psychology: Human Perception and Performance.
Perlman, A., Edwards, D., Pothos, E., & Tzelgov, J. (in
press). Task-relevant chunking in sequence learning. Journal of Experimental
Psychology: Human Perception and Performance.
Poznanski, Y. & Tzelgov, J. (in press). What is
implicit in implicit artificial grammar learning. Quarterly Journal
of Experimental Psychology.
Tzelgov, J. & Cohen Kadosh, R. (in press). From
automaticity to control in bilinguals. Trends in Cognitive Sciences.
Last update: August 2009
Key words: automaticity; Stroop-like phenomena; consciousness;
skill acquisition; reading; numerical cognition; language processing by bilinguals; suppressor
variables
Fax: 972-8-6472072
E-Mail: Tzelgov@Bgu.Ac.Il
ICQ: 19406024
Skype: yotzel
