Transfer of noncorresponding spatial associations to the auditory Simon task

Four experiments examined transfer of noncorresponding spatial stimulus-response associations to an auditory Simon task for which stimulus location was irrelevant. Experiment 1 established that, for a horizontal auditory Simon task, transfer of spatial associations occurs after 300 trials of practice with an incompatible mapping of auditory stimuli to keypress responses. Experiments 2-4 examined transfer effects within the auditory modality when the stimuli and responses were varied along vertical and horizontal dimensions. Transfer occurred when the stimuli and responses were arrayed along the same dimension in practice and transfer but not when they were arrayed along orthogonal dimensions. These findings indicate that prior task-defined associations have less influence on the auditory Simon effect than on the visual Simon effect, possibly because of the stronger tendency for an auditory stimulus to activate its corresponding response.     

Between-task transfer of learning from spatial compatibility to a color stroop task

Responses to a relevant stimulus dimension are faster and more accurate when the stimulus and response spatially correspond compared to when they do not, even though stimulus position is irrelevant (Simon effect). It has been demonstrated that practicing with an incompatible spatial stimulus-response (S-R) mapping before performing a Simon task can eliminate this effect. In the present study we assessed whether a learned spatially incompatible S-R mapping can be transferred to a nonspatial conflict task, hence supporting the view that transfer effects are due to acquisition of a general "respond to the opposite stimulus value" rule. To this aim, we ran two experiments in which participants performed a spatial compatibility task with either a compatible or an incompatible mapping and then transferred, after a 5 min delay, to a color Stroop task. In Experiment 1, responses were executed by pressing one of two keys on the keyboard in both practice and transfer tasks. In Experiment 2, responses were manual in the practice task and vocal in the transfer task. The spatially incompatible practice significantly reduced the color Stroop effect only when responses were manual in both tasks. These results suggest that during practice participants develop a response-selection strategy of emitting the alternative spatial response.     

Influences on the Simon effect of prior practice with spatially incompatible mappings: Transfer within and between horizontal and vertical dimensions

The Simon effect refers to the fact that for tasks in which stimulus location is irrelevant and a nonspatial attribute is relevant, responses are typically faster when stimulus and response locations correspond than when they do not. Two experiments examined the influence of prior practice with an incompatible relevant spatial mapping on the Simon effect as a function of the dimension (vertical or horizontal) along which the stimuli and responses varied in practice and transfer sessions. With 72 practice trials, the Simon effect in the transfer session was eliminated only when the spatial dimension was horizontal for both practice and transfer. With 600 practice trials, the Simon effect was eliminated for all combinations of practice and transfer dimensions, with noncorresponding responses showing an advantage when the dimension was horizontal for both practice and transfer. Within-dimension transfer effects for the horizontal dimension after a small amount of practice can be attributed to reactivation of specific stimulus-response associations defined for the practice task. However, the between-dimension transfer effects evident after a larger amount of practice cannot be explained in this manner and suggest that the subjects acquired a general procedure of responding opposite to the stimulus location.     

Transfer of orthogonal stimulus-response mappings to an orthogonal Simon task

When up-down stimulus locations are mapped to left-right keypresses, an overall advantage for the up-right/down-left mapping is often obtained that varies as a function of response eccentricity. This orthogonal stimulus-response compatibility (SRC) effect also occurs when stimulus location is irrelevant, a phenomenon called the orthogonal Simon effect, and has been attributed to correspondence of stimulus and response code polarities. The Simon effect for horizontal stimulus-response (S-R) arrangements has been shown to be affected by short-term S-R associations established through the mapping used for a prior SRC task in which stimulus location was relevant. We examined whether such associations also transfer between orthogonal SRC and Simon tasks and whether correspondence of code polarities continues to contribute to performance in the Simon task. In Experiment 1, the orthogonal Simon effect was larger after practising with an up-right/down-left mapping of visual stimuli to responses than with the alternative mapping, for which the orthogonal Simon effect tended to reverse. Experiment 2 showed similar results when practice was with high (up) and low (down) pitch tones, though the influence of practice mapping was not as large as that in Experiment 1, implying that the short-term S-R associations acquired in practice are at least in part not modality specific. In Experiment 3, response eccentricity and practice mapping were shown to have separate influences on the orthogonal Simon effect, as expected if both code polarity and acquired S-R associations contribute to performance.     

Transfer of orthogonal stimulus–response mappings to an orthogonal Simon task

When up–down stimulus locations are mapped to left–right keypresses, an overall advantage for the up–right/down–left mapping is often obtained that varies as a function of response eccentricity. This orthogonal stimulus–response compatibility (SRC) effect also occurs when stimulus location is irrelevant, a phenomenon called the orthogonal Simon effect, and has been attributed to correspondence of stimulus and response code polarities. The Simon effect for horizontal stimulus–response (S–R) arrangements has been shown to be affected by short-term S–R associations established through the mapping used for a prior SRC task in which stimulus location was relevant. We examined whether such associations also transfer between orthogonal SRC and Simon tasks and whether correspondence of code polarities continues to contribute to performance in the Simon task. In Experiment 1, the orthogonal Simon effect was larger after practising with an up–right/down–left mapping of visual stimuli to responses than with the alternative mapping, for which the orthogonal Simon effect tended to reverse. Experiment 2 showed similar results when practice was with high (up) and low (down) pitch tones, though the influence of practice mapping was not as large as that in Experiment 1, implying that the short-term S–R associations acquired in practice are at least in part not modality specific. In Experiment 3, response eccentricity and practice mapping were shown to have separate influences on the orthogonal Simon effect, as expected if both code polarity and acquired S–R associations contribute to performance.     

习得性空间联结的迁移依赖于语义工作记忆

采用练习迁移范式与双任务范式相结合的设计来探讨练习所习得的空间联结在工作记忆中如何表征。被试先进行不一致空间的刺激—反应映射练习任务, 五分钟后, 随机迁移到单任务(Simon任务)或者双任务(Simon任务+语义工作记忆负荷任务或空间工作记忆负荷任务)。结果发现：不一致的练习能使单任务出现反转的Simon效应, 但语义工作记忆负荷会使反转的Simon效应消失, 而空间工作记忆负荷却对反转的Simon效应没有影响。实验结果表明练习产生的空间联结依赖于语义工作记忆。     

Unintentional and intentional learning of noncorresponding stimulus-response associations in the Simon task

The Simon effect is a robust phenomenon that persists after extensive practice. However, several studies using a transfer paradigm have shown that the Simon effect is eliminated after practicing a location-relevant task with an incompatible spatial mapping. The present study examined whether this transfer effect is a result of implicit, procedural knowledge developed through repeated execution of noncorresponding responses in the practice session or a consequence of explicitly learning and reinstating a noncorresponding mapping rule. Results from two experiments show that, although a small part of the transfer effect may be due to residual activation of noncorresponding S-R associations from the prior task, the larger and more stable part is likely due to response-selection strategies performed intentionally in the practice task.     

Co-occurrence of sequential and practice effects in the Simon task: Evidence for two independent mechanisms affecting response selection

The Simon effect refers to the observation that responses to a relevant stimulus dimension are faster and more accurate when the stimulus and response spatially correspond than when they do not, even though stimulus position is irrelevant. Recent findings have suggested that the Simon effect can be strongly modulated by prior practice with a spatially incompatible mapping and by correspondence sequence. Although practice is thought to influence conditional stimulus —response (S-R) processing, leaving response priming through the unconditional route unaffected, sequential effects are thought to represent trial-by-trial adaptations that selectively involve unconditional S —R processing. In the present study, we tested this assumption by assessing the effects of correspondence sequence both when the Simon task alone was performed and when it was preceded by a spatial compatibility task with either incompatible (Experiments 1-2) or compatible (Experiment 2) instructions. The observation that practice and correspondence sequence co-occur and exert additive effects strongly demonstrates that the two factors affect different processing routes.     

Visual and auditory accessory stimulus offset and the Simon effect

We investigated the effect on the right and left responses of the disappearance of a task-irrelevant stimulus located on the right or left side. Participants pressed a right or left response key on the basis of the color of a centrally located visual target. Visual (Experiment 1) or auditory (Experiment 2) task-irrelevant accessory stimuli appeared or disappeared at locations to the right or left of the central target. In Experiment 1, responses were faster when onset or offset of the visual accessory stimulus was spatially congruent with the response. In Experiment 2, responses were again faster when onset of the auditory accessory stimulus and the response were on the same side. However, responses were slightly slower when offset of the auditory accessory stimulus and the response were on the same side than when they were on opposite sides. These findings indicate that transient change information is crucial for a visual Simon effect, whereas sustained stimulation from an ongoing stimulus also contributes to an auditory Simon effect.     

Cross-modal re-mapping influences the Simon effect

Tagliabue, Zorzi, Umiltà, and Bassignani (2000) showed that one's practicing of a spatially incompatible task influences performance in a Simon task even when the interval between the two tasks is as long as 1 week. In the present study, three experiments were conducted to investigate whether such an effect could be found in a cross-modal paradigm, whereby stimuli in the two tasks were presented in different modalities. Subjects performed either compatible or incompatible mappings in an acoustic spatial compatibility task and, after an interval of 5 min, 24 h, or 7 days, performed a visual Simon task. Results show that the spatially incompatible mapping task affected performance in the Simon task: The Simon effect was absent for all three intervals. This pattern is similar to the results of the Tagliabue et al. study, in which both tasks were performed in the same (visual) modality. Our findings disprove possible explanations based on episodic/contextual effects and support the hypothesis of a long-lasting spatial remapping that is not modality specific.     

The role of instructions,practice, and stimulus-hand correspondence on the Simon effect

Numerous studies of two-choice reaction tasks, including auditory and visual Simon tasks (i.e., tasks in which stimulus location is irrelevant) and visual compatibility tasks, have found that only spatial stimulus-response (S-R) correspondence affected S-R compatibility. Their results provided no indication that stimulus-hand correspondence was a significant factor. However, Wascher et al. (2001) suggested that hand coding plays a role in visual and auditory Simon tasks when the instructions are in terms of the finger/hand used for responding. The present experiments examined whether instructing subjects in terms of response locations or fingers/hands influenced the Simon effect for visual and auditory tasks. In Experiments 1-3, only spatial S-R correspondence contributed significantly to the Simon effect, even when the instructions were in terms of the fingers/hands. However, in Experiment 4, which used auditory stimuli and finger/hand instructions, the contribution of stimulus-hand correspondence increased with practice.     

Lateralized warning tones produce typical irrelevant-location effects on choice reactions

Simon, Acosta, and Mewaldt (1975) reported an experiment in which a 200-Hz warning-tone, presented in the left or right ear, was followed by an imperative stimulus of 500 Hz in either ear, to which a left- or right-key press was to be made. Simon et al. found a correspondence effect for warning location and response location (i.e., faster reactions when warning and response locations corresponded than when they did not) when the stimulus-response mapping was incompatible but not when it was compatible. These findings stand in contrast to typical results of (1) a correspondence effect for irrelevant location information when the mapping is compatible and (2) a reversed correspondence effect (i.e., faster responses when stimulus and response location do not correspond) when the mapping is incompatible. We conducted a direct replication of Simon et al.’s experiment and another experiment that differed only in the imperative stimulus being visual, in order to determine whether there are unique aspects of their method that yield atypical results. Our results failed to replicate those reported by Simon et al. but instead showed the patterns of correspondence effects typically found with other procedures, suggesting that the warning-signal method produces irrelevant-location effects consistent with those produced by other methods.     

Display-control arrangement correspondence and logical recoding in the Hedge and Marsh reversal of the Simon effect

When left and right keypresses are made to stimuli in left and right locations, and stimulus location is irrelevant to the task, responses are typically faster when stimulus location corresponds with response location than when it does not (the Simon effect). This effect reverses when the relevant stimulus-response mapping is incompatible, with responses being slower when stimulus and response locations correspond (the Hedge and Marsh reversal). Simon et al. (Acta Psychol. 47 (1981) 63) reported an exception to the Hedge and Marsh reversal for a situation in which the relevant stimulus dimension was the color of a centered visual stimulus and the irrelevant location information was left or right tone location. In contrast, similar experiments have found a reversal of the Simon effect for tone location when relevant visual locations were mapped incompatibly to responses. We conducted four experiments to investigate this discrepancy. Both results were replicated. With an incompatible mapping, irrelevant tone location showed a small reverse Simon effect when the relevant visual dimension was physical location but not when the color of a centered stimulus or the direction in which an arrow pointed conveyed the visual location information. The reversal occurred in a more standard Hedge and Marsh task in which the irrelevant dimension was location of the colored stimulus, but only when the response keys were visibly labeled. Several of the results suggest that display-control arrangement correspondence is the primary cause of the Hedge and Marsh reversal, with logical recoding playing only a secondary role.     

Processing irrelevant location information: Practice and transfer effects in choice-reaction tasks

Left or right keypresses to a relevant stimulus dimension are faster when the stimulus location, although irrelevant, corresponds with that of the response than when it does not. This phenomenon, called the Simon effect, persisted across 1,800 trials of practice, although its magnitude was reduced. Practice with the relevant stimulus dimension presented at a centered location had little influence on the magnitude of the Simon effect when irrelevant location was varied subsequently, and practice with location irrelevant prior to performing with location relevant slowed responses. After practice responding to stimulus location with an incompatible spatial mapping, the Simon effect was reversed (i.e., responses were slower when stimulus location corresponded with response location) when location was made irrelevant. When the response keys were labeled according to the relevant stimulus dimension (the Hedge and Marsh [1975] task variation), this reversal from practice with a spatially incompatible mapping was found for both the congruent and the incongruent relevant stimulus-response mappings. Thus, task-defined associations between stimulus location and response location affect performance when location is changed from relevant to irrelevant, apparently through producing automatic activation of the previously associated response.     

The interaction between emotion and executive control: Comparison between visual,auditory, and tactile modalities

The reciprocal connections between emotion and attention are vital for adaptive behaviour. Previous results demonstrated that the behavioural effects of emotional stimuli on performance are attenuated when executive control is recruited. The current research studied whether this attenuation is modality dependent. In two experiments, negative and neutral pictures were presented shortly before a visual, tactile, or auditory target in a Simon task. All three modalities demonstrated a Simon effect, a conflict adaptation effect, and an emotional interference effect. However, the interaction between picture valence and Simon congruency was found only in the visual task. Specifically, when the Simon target was visual, emotional interference was reduced during incongruent compared to congruent trials. These findings suggest that although the control-related effects observed in the Simon tasks are not modality dependent, the link between emotion and executive control is modality dependent. Presumably, this link occurs only when the emotional stimulus and the target are presented in the same modality.     

Auditory stimulus-response compatibility: Is there a contribution of stimulus-hand correspondence?

 Simon, Hinrichs, and Craft found that when subjects responded to a tone in the left or right ear with a left or right keypress, both ear-response-location correspondence and ear-hand correspondence affected reaction time. This outcome is in contrast to results obtained for auditory and visual Simon tasks (i.e., tasks in which stimulus location is irrelevant) as well as results obtained in visual stimulus-response (S-R) compatibility studies, which show only an effect of spatial S-R correspondence. Experiment 1 was a replication of Simon et al.'s experiment in which spatial mapping and hand placement (uncrossed, crossed) were varied. The results were inconsistent with those of Simon et al., showing no ear-hand compatibility effect. Experiment 2 was a second replication with an additional condition examined in which the stimuli were visual locations. The results showed no contribution of stimulus-hand correspondence for either auditory or visual stimuli. Experiment 3 was a replication of another experiment by Simon et al. in which tone pitch was relevant and tone location irrelevant. Like Simon et al.'s data, our results showed no indication that stimulus-hand correspondence is a significant factor. Overall, our results imply that regardless of whether tone location is relevant or irrelevant, ear-response-location correspondence is the only factor that contributes to S-R compatibility in auditory two-choice reaction tasks. Received: 15 March 1999 / Accepted: 8 June 1999     

Shared learning shapes human performance: Transfer effects in task sharing

We investigated whether performing a task with a co-actor shapes the way a subsequent task is performed. In four experiments participants were administered a Simon task after practicing a spatial compatibility task with an incompatible S-R mapping. In Experiment 1 they performed both tasks alongside another person; in Experiment 2 they performed the spatial compatibility task alone, responding to only one stimulus position, and the Simon task with another person; in Experiment 3, they performed the spatial compatibility task with another person and the Simon task alone; finally, in Experiment 4, they performed the spatial compatibility task alone and the Simon task with another person. The incompatible practice eliminated the Simon effect in Experiments 1 and 4. These results indicate that when a task is distributed between two participants with each one performing a different part of it, they tend to represent the whole task rather than their own part of it. This experience can influence the way a subsequent task is performed, as long as this latter occurs in a social context.     

From eyes to hands: Transfer of learning in the Simon task across motor effectors

Inhibition of irrelevant and conflicting information and responses is crucial for goal-directed behaviour and adaptive functioning. In the Simon task, for example, responses are slowed if their mappings are spatially incongruent with stimuli that must be discriminated on a nonspatial dimension. Previous work has shown that practice with incongruent spatial mappings can reduce or even reverse the Simon effect. We asked whether such practice transfers between the manual and oculomotor systems and if so to what extent this occurs across a range of behavioural tasks. In two experiments, one cohort of participants underwent anti-saccade training, during which they repeatedly inhibited the reflexive impulse to look toward a briefly presented target. Additionally, two active-control training groups were included, in which participants either trained on Pro-saccade or Fixation training regimens. In Experiment 1, we probed whether the Simon effect and another inhibitory paradigm, the Stroop task, showed differential effects after training. In Experiment 2, we included a larger battery of inhibitory tasks (Simon, Stroop, flanker and stop-signal) and noninhibitory control measures (multitasking and visual search) to assess the limits of transfer. All three training regimens led to behavioural improvements in the trained-upon task, but only the anti-saccade training group displayed benefits that transferred to the manual response modality. This transfer of training benefit replicated across the two experiments but was restricted to the Simon effect. Evidence for transfer of inhibition training across motor systems offers important insights into the nature of stimulus-response representations and their malleability.     

Lexical influences in audiovisual speech perception

Phoneme identification with audiovisually discrepant stimuli is influenced hy information in the visual signal (the McGurk effect). Additionally, lexical status affects identification of auditorily presented phonemes. The present study tested for lexical influences on the McGurk effect. Participants identified phonemes in audiovisually discrepant stimuli in which lexical status of the auditory component and of a visually influenced percept was independently varied. Visually influenced (McGurk) responses were more frequent when they formed a word and when the auditory signal was a nonword (Experiment 1). Lexical effects were larger for slow than for fast responses (Experiment 2), as with auditory speech, and were replicated with stimuli matched on physical properties (Experiment 3). These results are consistent with models in which lexical processing of speech is modality independent.     

Logical recoding of S-R rules can reverse the effects of spatial S-R correspondence

Two experiments investigated competing explanations for the reversal of spatial stimulus—response (S—R) correspondence effects (i.e., Simon effects) with an incompatible S—R mapping on the relevant, nonspatial dimension. Competing explanations were based on generalized S—R rules (logical-recoding account) or referred to display—control arrangement correspondence or to S—S congruity. In Experiment 1, compatible responses to finger—name stimuli presented at left/right locations produced normal Simon effects, whereas incompatible responses to finger—name stimuli produced an inverted Simon effect. This finding supports the logical-recoding account. In Experiment 2, spatial S—R correspondence and color S—R correspondence were varied independently, and main effects of these variables were observed. The lack of an interaction between these variables, however, disconfirms a prediction of the display—control arrangement correspondence account. Together, the results provide converging evidence for the logical-recoding account. This account claims that participants derive generalized response selection rules (e.g., the identity or reversal rule) from specific S—R rules and inadvertently apply the generalized rules to the irrelevant (spatial) S—R dimension when selecting their response.