Keeping Simon simple: Examining the relationship between sequential modulations and feature repetitions with two stimuli, two locations and two responses

doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2010.07.011

Acta Psychologica

Volume 136, Issue 2, February 2011, Pages 245-252

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2010.07.011 Get rights and content

Abstract

The present study examined performance across three two-choice tasks that used the same two stimuli, the same two stimulus locations, and the same two responses to determine how task demands can alter the Simon Effect, its distribution across reaction time, and its sequential modulation. In two of the tasks, repetitions of stimulus features were not confounded with sequences of congruent and incongruent trials. This attribute allowed us to investigate the sequential modulation of the Simon Effect in a two-choice task while equalizing the occurrence of feature repetitions. All tasks showed a similar sequential modulation, suggesting that it is not driven by feature repetitions. Moreover, distributional analyses revealed that the advantage for congruent trials decreased as reaction time increased similarly following congruent and incongruent trials. Finally, a large increase in RT was observed when repeated responses were made to novel stimuli and when novel responses were made to repeated stimuli. This effect also showed a sequential modulation regardless of whether the stimulus repeated. The findings suggest that, even in two-choice tasks, response selection is mediated by complex, dynamic representations that encode abstract properties of the task rather than just simple features.

Section snippets

The present study

We used three distinct two-choice tasks that all involved the same stimulus identities, stimulus locations, and responses to determine the role that stimulus and response repetitions play in the sequential modulation of the Simon Effect. The first task was a standard version of the Simon task, in which one stimulus (O) was mapped to the left key and the other stimulus (X) was mapped to the right key. We term this the OLXR (O-left, X-right) task. However, in the other tasks, specific stimuli

Participants

Thirty-two participants (19 females) from the University of Iowa volunteered for a one-hour session of the experiment to meet a course requirement for an introductory psychology class. Two of the participants were eliminated from the analysis for having an overall error rate that was greater than 15% (one from the OSXD group and one from SLDR group).

Stimuli and apparatus

The experiment was conducted on PC computers with E-prime software. The stimuli were presented on a 17-inch monitor positioned about 70 cm from the

Results

The first two blocks were treated as practice and were not analyzed. We also excluded any trial with an incorrect response or following an incorrect response, any trial with an RT less than 200 ms or greater than 2000 ms, and the first two trials of each block. This procedure eliminated 10% of the data, not including the first two blocks. To simplify the analyses, the data were coded in terms of congruency (i.e., whether the correct response corresponded with the stimulus location) rather than in

Discussion

The present study revealed a rich set of effects and interactions underlying the performance of forced-choice tasks involving just two stimuli, two locations, and two responses. These effects appear to be similar regardless of the specific task; whether participants responded based on the identity of the stimulus, its relation to the previous stimulus, or the relationship between the present stimulus and the previous response, the same basic patterns were observed. It should be noted that in

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Bernhard Hommel, Michael Wendt, and an anonymous reviewer for their very helpful comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript. We also wish to thank all of the participants of the conference, “Responding toward the source of stimulation” in October 2008, for their excellent contributions and stimulating discussion. Finally, we wish to thank Dick Simon for discovering the effect and being a wonderful colleague.

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Citation Excerpt :
However, the condition-specific delta plots after both congruent and incongruent trials followed a similar decreasing time-course, and the effect of previous trial congruency was exclusively reflected in a shift of delta plots (i.e., non-overlapping delta plots). Because the slopes were generally not modulated by previous trial congruency, this suggests that the fading of irrelevant activation and the processes affected by sequential modulation are independent, as has been previously suggested (e.g., Finkbeiner & Heathcote, 2015; Hazeltine et al., 2011). The decreasing delta plots observed in Simon tasks present a challenge for many formal perceptual decision-making models because these predict that the variance of RT should increase with the mean RT (Luce, 1986), but a number of quantitative models that can account for such decreases have been suggested.
We combined analyses of reaction time (RT) distributions with experimental manipulations of different processing stages (perception, decision, motor execution) in a Simon task to investigate which changes in Simon effects could be explained entirely by fading irrelevant response activation. Consistent with fading activation accounts, the Simon effect on mean RT was usually smaller for conditions with slower responses (Expts. 1–3 but not Expt. 4), and delta plot analyses revealed that it was always smaller for the slower responses within each condition. Critically, however, these analyses also revealed that some experimental manipulations produced upward or downward shifts in the RT delta plots, thus altering the Simon effect on mean RT in ways that could not be explained by fading activation. The results demonstrate the power of combining RT distributional analyses with experimental manipulations to reveal mechanisms contributing to the Simon effect that would not be revealed using only mean RT. We consider alternatives to fading activation accounts of decreasing delta plots and discuss the contribution of different cognitive stages in modulating Simon effects.
Understanding Central Processes: The Case against Simple Stimulus-Response Associations and for Complex Task Representation
2016, Psychology of Learning and Motivation - Advances in Research and Theory
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Because shared stimulus features appeared to play little role in whether the congruency of one trial affected the magnitude of the congruency effect on the next, the researchers proposed that CSE are not constrained by hard boundaries based on the organization of the perceptuomotor system but rather are determined by the individual's representation of the task; CSEs depend on the extent to which consecutive trials belong to the same task. In short, Hazeltine and colleagues proposed the patterns of CSE reflected the structure of central processes rather than perceptual or attentional mechanisms (see also, Akçay & Hazeltine, 2008, 2011; Hazeltine, Akçay, et al., 2011). This is similar to an episodic account proposed by Spapé and Hommel (2008), which holds that control settings are retrieved based on the episodic context.
The act of choosing an action based on stimulus information and a set of arbitrary rules is termed response selection. It embodies the core of voluntary behavior and plays a critical role in most experimental tasks, yet the processes supporting it are poorly understood. Often, response selection is assumed to arise through the activation of stimulus-response (S-R) associations that bridge perceptual and motor processes. As others have pointed out before us, this conceptualization does little to account for many findings relating to choice response tasks. In the present chapter, we describe data from eight areas of research that bear on theories of response selection: task switching, the Hick–Hyman law, S-R compatibility, congruency effects, dual-task performance, task configuration, learning, and memory. We then turn to neuroimaging and neurophysiological data and examine what they indicate about how stimulus information can be flexibly mapped to motor output. Across these diverse domains, the shortcomings of the simple S-R association view consistently cohere around two related properties: First, conceptual aspects of the task trump physical properties of the stimulus and responses with regard to determining the varying demands on central processes. Second, task representations are highly structured, such that some actions are more closely related than others, and these relationships affect performance. We conclude by delineating alternative theoretical frameworks that might better capture the nature of the central processes supporting response selection.
Contingent attentional capture triggers the congruency sequence effect
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The congruency effect in distracter interference tasks is often reduced after incongruent as compared to congruent trials. Here, we investigated whether this congruency sequence effect (CSE) is triggered by (a) attentional adaptation resulting from perceptual conflict or (b) contingent attentional capture arising from distracters that possess target-defining perceptual features. To distinguish between these hypotheses, we varied the perceptual format in which a distracter (word or arrow) and a subsequent target (word or arrow) appeared in a prime-probe task. In Experiment 1, we varied these formats across four blocks of a factorial design, such that targets always appeared in a single perceptual format. Consistent with both hypotheses, we observed a CSE only when the distracter appeared in the same perceptual format as the target. In Experiment 2, we varied these formats randomly across trials within each block, such that targets appeared randomly in either format. Consistent with the attentional capture account but inconsistent with the perceptual conflict account, we observed equivalent CSEs in the same and different perceptual format conditions. These findings show for the first time that contingent attentional capture plays an important role in triggering the CSE.
Congruency sequence effect in cross-task context: Evidence for dimension-specific modulation
2013, Acta Psychologica
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The analysis revealed a significant interaction of experiment, previous congruency and current congruency, F(1, 30) = 7.33, p = .011, ηp2 = .880, MSE = 874. These results provide additional evidence for the idea that control processes are dependent on the response mode of the task (Braem et al., 2011; Hazeltine, Akçay, et al., 2011, Hazeltine, Lightman et al., 2011). In Braem et al.'s experiments, a significant congruency sequence effect was obtained only when two Simon tasks were performed with the same effector (hands) but not when one task was performed with one effector (hand) and the other task with another effector (foot).
The congruency sequence effect refers to a reduced congruency effect after incongruent trials relative to congruent trials. This modulation is thought to be, at least in part, due to the control mechanisms resolving conflict. The present study examined the nature of the control mechanisms by having participants perform two different tasks in an alternating way. When participants performed horizontal and vertical Simon tasks in Experiment 1A, and horizontal and vertical spatial Stroop task in Experiment 1B, no congruency sequence effect was obtained between the task congruencies. When the Simon task and spatial Stroop task were performed with different response sets in Experiment 2, no congruency sequence effect was obtained. However, in Experiment 3, in which the participants performed the horizontal Simon and spatial Stroop tasks with an identical response set, a significant congruency sequence effect was obtained between the task congruencies. In Experiment 4, no congruency sequence effect was obtained when participants performed two tasks having different task-irrelevant dimensions with the identical response set. The findings suggest inhibitory processing between the task-irrelevant dimension and response mode after conflict.
Parallel patterns of spatial compatibility and spatial congruence...as long as you don't look too closely
2011, Acta Psychologica
Citation Excerpt :
In contrast, following a congruent trial, these links might be strengthened, instead, creating a complete pattern that has been labeled reactive gating (Mordkoff, 1998) or conflict adaptation (Botvinick, Braver, Barch, Carter, & Cohen, 2001), depending on whether a particular underlying mechanism is assumed. There is also a third class of explanation for this phenomenon, focusing on the transient bindings between stimulus and response features (e.g., Chen & Melara, 2009; Hazeltine et al., 2011-this issue; Hommel, Proctor, & Vu, 2004; Mayr, Awh, & Laurey, 2003), which is why sequential modulation of the Simon Effect is receiving so much attention. Despite their obvious similarities, the effects of spatial congruence should not be confused with the influence of spatial compatibility (Fitts & Deininger, 1954; Fitts & Seeger, 1953).
The effects of spatial compatibility and spatial congruence have both been explained in terms of a dual-route model under which spatial information about the stimulus, regardless of task relevance, is directly passed from perception to action. Recently, however, some alternatives to the dual-route model of the Simon Effect have been proposed (or re-introduced) as viable explanations. The present experiment compared the magnitudes of the effects of spatial compatibility and spatial congruence across a range of tasks that varied in their dimensional overlap. The results exhibited a remarkable parallel between the two phenomena when viewed only in terms of the interaction between stimulus set and response set. This could be taken as new evidence for a common origin. However, when the entire pattern of results was examined, a large difference between compatibility and congruence were also seen, which implies that there is at least one important difference between the two phenomena.
The components of visual attention and the ubiquitous Simon effect
2011, Acta Psychologica
Spatial responding is influenced by the degree of correspondence between the stimulus–response (S–R) code activated by the target's task-irrelevant location and the S–R code activated by the target's non-spatial, task-relevant feature. A generally accepted explanation of this “Simon effect,” named after its discoverer, is that there is a natural tendency to respond towards the source of stimulation. First we will review the ubiquity of the Simon effect. Then we will review the literature, including our own studies when appropriate, that has explored the relationship between the Simon effect and the components of attention: alertness, orienting and executive control, with an emphasis on visual orienting. The Simon effect is reduced when participants are not alert and when executive control is effective in filtering out the irrelevant location information. When attention is oriented endogenously, or is captured exogenously by uninformative peripheral stimulation, the Simon effect is additive with attentional facilitation (i.e., the Simon effect is the same magnitude for targets presented at attended and unattended locations). Yet, some forms of orienting, such as orienting directed by gaze and biased by inhibition of return, modulate the Simon effect. We will explore the implications of these patterns of additivity and interaction for our understanding of both the Simon effect and spatial attention.

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View full text

Keeping Simon simple: Examining the relationship between sequential modulations and feature repetitions with two stimuli, two locations and two responses

Abstract

Section snippets

The present study

Participants

Stimuli and apparatus

Results

Discussion

Acknowledgements

Brain Research

Cognition

Feature-overlap and conflict monitoring: Two sources of sequential modulations

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

Conflict monitoring and cognitive control

Psychological Review

Conditional and unconditional automaticity: A dual-process model of effects of spatial stimulus–response correspondence

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance

Optimizing the use of information: Strategic control of activation and responses

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

The effect of irrelevant spatial correspondence on two-choice response time

Acta Psychologia

The role of attention for the Simon Effect

Psychological Research

Spontaneous decay of response code activation

Psychological Research

Interactions between stimulus–stimulus congruence and stimulus–response compatibility

Psychological Research

Event files: Evidence for automatic integration of stimulus–response episodes

Visual Cognition

Visual attention and the temporal dynamics of feature integration

Visual Cognition

The theory of event coding (TEC)

The Behavioral and Brain Sciences

A feature-integration account of sequential effects in the Simon task

Psychological Research