title: Facilitation and interference components in the joint Simon task.
abstract: Two experiments were conducted to assess whether the joint Simon effect is composed of facilitation and interference and whether facilitation is increased by a joint spatially compatible practice performed before performing the joint Simon task. In both experiments, participants were required to perform a Simon task along another person. Trials could be corresponding, non-corresponding, and neutral. In Experiment 1, participants performed only the Simon task. In Experiment 2, participants first practiced on a joint spatial compatibility task with a compatible mapping and, after a 5-min delay, transferred to a joint Simon task. Results indicated that the joint Simon effect consisted primarily of interference, which was significantly increased by a spatially compatible practice performed jointly. These results allow us to better define in what ways the presence of the other influences performance, in showing that when participants perform a task along with another individual, they display a disadvantage (i.e., slower RTs) when they have to respond to stimuli appearing on the other agent's side.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Comunicazione e Economia, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Via Allegri 9, 42121 Reggio Emilia, Italy.
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ferraro
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Iani
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mariani
authors.forename: Nadia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Milanese
authors.forename: Sandro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rubichi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009949:Orientation; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011930:Reaction Time; D013028:Space Perception; D014796:Visual Perception