Keeping Simon simple: Examining the relationship between sequential modulations and feature repetitions with two stimuli, two locations and two responses
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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Beyond mean reaction times: Combining distributional analyses with processing stage manipulations in the Simon task
2020, Cognitive PsychologyCitation 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.
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 TheoryCitation Excerpt :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.
Contingent attentional capture triggers the congruency sequence effect
2015, Acta PsychologicaCongruency sequence effect in cross-task context: Evidence for dimension-specific modulation
2013, Acta PsychologicaCitation Excerpt :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).
Parallel patterns of spatial compatibility and spatial congruence...as long as you don't look too closely
2011, Acta PsychologicaCitation 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 components of visual attention and the ubiquitous Simon effect
2011, Acta Psychologica