Dynamic aspects of stimulus-response correspondence: evidence for two mechanisms involved in the Simon effect.
It has been recently proposed that the time course of the Simon effect may vary across tasks, which might reflect different types of stimulus-response (S-R) transmissions (E. Wascher, U. Schatz, T. Kuder, & R. Verleger, 2001). The authors tested this notion in 4 experiments by comparing Simon effects evoked by horizontal and vertical S-R arrangements. The temporal properties of the effect, as well as lateralized readiness potential-difference waves, indicated a fast and transient influence of the horizontal, but a slow and sustained influence of the vertical spatial stimulus feature on performance. Additional evidence for this temporal dissociation was obtained in experiments that induced a shortening or lengthening of the mean response time. Thus, the data strongly indicate that there are 2 temporally dissociable mechanisms involved in generating the Simon effect for horizontal and vertical S-R relations.
Cognitive Psychophysiology of Action, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Amalienstrasse 33, D-80799 Munich, Germany. wiegand@cbs.mpg.de
Katrin
K
Wiegand
Edmund
E
Wascher
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003265:Contingent Negative Variation; D003463:Cues; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011601:Psychophysics; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D013028:Space Perception; D014795:Visual Pathways