title: Response inhibition and adaptations to response conflict in 6- to 8-year-old children: evidence from the Simon effect.
abstract: Several studies have shown that the Simon effect, which is the advantage of spatial correspondence between stimulus and response locations when the stimulus location is task-irrelevant, decreases with increasing response times and is affected by preceding-trial correspondence. These modulations suggest the existence of control mechanisms that adapt our behavior to current goals by responding to the conflict experienced within a trial and by preventing the recurrence of a conflict in the subsequent trial. The aim of the present study was to assess whether these control mechanisms, which are well consolidated in adults and in children older than 8 years of age, are present in children between 6 and 8 years old. To this end, we tested 32 first-grade (6-7 years) and 34 second-grade (7-8 years) children on a Simon task in which correspondence sequence was manipulated on a trial-by-trial basis. The Simon effect was larger for first- than for second-graders and decreased with increasing response times only in second-graders. Crucially, for both groups, the effect was reduced when the preceding trial was noncorresponding, and the reductions were comparable for the two groups, indicating that trial-by-trial control mechanisms are already present in first-grade children and may be dissociated from within-trial control adjustments.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Comunicazione ed Economia, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Via Allegri 9, 42121, Reggio Emilia, Italy, cristina.iani@unimore.it.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Iani
authors.forename: Giacomo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Stella
authors.forename: Sandro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rubichi
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000367:Age Factors; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D002648:Child; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D002666:Psychology, Child; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*