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REFERENCES
Greater semantic bias in participants reporting
more persistent thoughts.
Participants can block behavioral expression of
persistent thoughts, but not the thoughts
themselves.
Next steps:
Persistent thoughts may not be subject
to cognitive control.
Are they blocked by interference?
CONCLUSIONS
Free
Association
3 Minutes
(suppress food)
Story
Reading
n=79
(suppress story)
Free
Association
3 Minutes
Post-task
Questions
Self-reported
Lingering
Time
"Suppress thoughts related to food"
"Suppress thoughts related to the story"
Mean
Story Relatedness
Time (seconds)
Post-Story Suppress
Pre-Story Suppress
Post-Story Intact
Pre-Story Intact
CI: 95%, n=5000
Position
in Word Chain
Cohen's D
Post-Pre
Story Relatedness
Semantic biases undetectable when participants
suppress story-related thoughts.
CI: 95%, n=5000
Condition
Self-reported
Lingering
Narrative content persists
in thought regardless of
volition.
Intact
R
2
=0.13
Suppress
R
2
=0.05
p=0.066
Self-reported Lingering
Mean Post-Story
Relatedness
Semantic Biases & Subjective
Experience show a correlation trend.