Go/No-Go范式中非反应手状态对Simon效应性质的影响

为了探讨非反应手对标准Simon任务改装的go/no-go任务的影响,被试只对其中一种颜色进行按键反应,通过指导语来操控非反应手的状态,结果发现：(1)实验一中当不提醒非反应手如何放置时,不会产生Simon效应;(2) 实验二中要求非反应手放在固定的桌面位置上,产生了视觉运动Simon效应,其随反应时的增大而减小;(3) 实验三中要求非反应手放在固定的非反应键上,却产生了认知Simon效应,其随反应时的增大而增大。这说明非反应手的状态影响Simon效应的产生及其性质。     

Simon效应及其反转现象作用机制的研究

研究运用任务干扰的实验范式,试图从探讨刺激出现的空间位置与反应效果之间的关系来推测Simon效应及其反转现象的作用机制。结果表明:(1)当相关刺激-反应匹配不相容时,颜色刺激在左、右位置呈现,当明显标记反应键时,出现Simon效应的反转。(2)当手指遮住反应键的标记时,没有反转。(3)当颜色刺激在中央位置,声音在左、右耳发生时,没有反转。说明显示-控制排列对应性是产生Simon效应反转的最重要因素,逻辑再编码只起到次要的作用。     

语音反应方式下情绪效价对空间Simon效应的影响

通过3个实验考察语音反应方式下情绪效价对空间Simon效应的影响。实验1采用空间Simon任务范式考察语音反应方式下空间Simon效应的存在;实验2增加刺激的情绪效价维度,采用同样任务考察无关情绪效价对空间Simon效应的影响;实验3在实验2基础上进一步探讨当情绪效价为相关维度时对空间Simon效应的影响。研究结果表明:语音反应方式下,只有当情绪效价为相关维度时,才会对空间Simon效应产生影响,且该影响主要表现在积极效价对认知控制的促进作用而导致空间Simon效应减小或消失,此结果与极性编码一致性假说一致,也拓宽了躯体特异性假说,扩展了以往对情绪影响空间认知的理解。     

三维空间中视觉空间返回抑制对Simon效应的影响

通过虚拟现实技术构建虚拟三维场景,采用视觉空间返回抑制范式与Simon任务的变式相结合,操纵了目标深度、线索有效性以及空间一致性三个变量,考察三维空间深度位置上视觉空间返回抑制如何影响任务无关的反应表征(Simon效应)。结果发现,(1)三维空间深度位置上存在基于空间的返回抑制效应,且空间返回抑制效应会削减Simon效应;(2)目标出现在远处空间时,线索化条件下的Simon效应显著大于非线索化条件下的Simon效应;(3)目标出现在近处空间时,线索化条件与非线索化条件下的Simon效应之间无显著差异。研究表明,空间返回抑制并不是"深度盲",且目标的空间位置会对空间返回抑制与Simon效应的交互关系产生影响。     

国外关于Simon效应及其反转现象的研究述评

刺激-反应相容性是心理学的一个重要研究领域,Simon效应是一种典型的空间刺激-反应相容性现象.本文结合实证研究回顾了近年来国外关于此现象的研究,阐释了Simon效应的传统解释及其反转现象的逻辑再编码及显示-控制排列对应性假说等观点,分析了关于Simon效应的发生阶段及其本质问题的某些争论.最后尝试从空间注意以及电生理等角度来揭示此现象的作用机制.     

人际情境对幼儿联合Simon效应的影响机制

联合Simon效应是考察幼儿共同表征能力的一个有效指标,本研究采用联合Simon任务范式通过两个实验考察幼儿联合Simon效应稳定产生的年龄阶段以及不同人际情境对该效应的影响机制。实验1首先以3个年龄段幼儿为研究对象来考察幼儿联合Simon效应产生的年龄阶段,以揭示共同表征能力的发生发展趋势。实验2在实验1基础上以出现稳定联合Simon效应的5岁幼儿为研究对象,进一步考察该能力水平是否受到人际情境的影响及背后的机制。结果表明,与3岁相比,4岁幼儿开始出现联合Simon效应,但尚不稳定,5岁幼儿的联合Simon效应达到更加稳定水平;不同人际情境对幼儿的共同表征能力产生影响,相较合作情境,竞争情境对幼儿联合行动的共同表征能力有抑制作用。本研究结果很好地支持了参考编码理论,并拓宽了对共同表征理论的理解。     

联合Simon效应:现状、影响因素与理论解释

联合Simon效应是一种空间刺激–反应相容性效应,它出现在当两个参与者完成Simon任务的互补成分时。该效应被认为是反映自我–他人整合程度的一个有效指标。影响此现象的因素主要包括社会和非社会因素。社会促进理论、共同表征理论、空间反应编码理论和参照编码理论对该效应作出了解释。未来关于联合Simon效应的研究需深入探讨其影响因素以及脑机制,并进一步完善理论解释。     

基于选择反应的学习迁移效应：从个人情境到社会情境

先前习得的空间不相容联结可以减少、消除甚至反转Simon效应, 这种现象被称为学习迁移效应。研究者已经在个人情境和社会情境中发现一些影响学习迁移效应的因素, 并提出短时记忆联结解释、自下而上的启动机制和反应对立策略等相关解释。未来研究需要澄清刺激-反应迁移的双向性以及学习迁移效应的认知神经机制和发展路径。     

Simon效应对空间-数字反应编码联合效应的抑制作用

采用Simon效应研究范式,以阿拉伯数字为实验材料,三个实验分别要求被试判断呈现数字的空间位置、颜色和大小,系统考察Simon效应、空间-数字反应编码联合效应的加工特点以及两者之间的关系。结果发现:(1)三个实验中,不管采用何种判断标准,被试总是对左侧的数字按左键反应更快,对右侧的数字按右键反应更快,数字加工中出现Simon效应;而对不同大小的数字按左键和按右键的反应时差异均不显著,数字加工中均未出现SNARC效应。(2)Simon效应和SNARC效应不同质,两者的加工机制也互不相同,而且Simon效应对SNARC效应具有抑制作用。(3)Simon效应与SNARC效应相比,Simon效应相对更稳固,SNARC效应则相对更灵活,易受知觉信息变化的影响。     

基于物体的注意对Simon效应的调节

本研究采用双长方形框范式的变式将注意分离为基于空间和基于物体的注意后,探讨了注意对Simon效应的调节是否由基于物体的注意引起。结果发现,在长方形框水平排列时在基于物体的注意条件下Simon效应增大,而在长方形框垂直排列时在基于物体的注意条件下Simon效应没有显著变化。这表明,在长方形框水平排列时基于物体的注意可以对Simon 效应进行调节。实验结果部分支持了动态版的参照编码假设和物体文件整合假设。     

Decay of Stimulus Spatial Code in Horizontal and Vertical Simon Tasks

Evidence on the processes underlying the horizontal and vertical Simon effect is still controversial. The present study uses experimental manipulations to selectively delay the stages of response execution, response selection, and stimulus identification in three experiments. A reduction is observed for both horizontal and vertical Simon effects when response execution is delayed by a go-signal presented 400–600 ms post-stimulus onset or when a spatial precue is presented 200–400 ms before the stimulus. When the overlap between stimulus spatial code formation and response selection is prevented by decreasing stimulus discriminability, the horizontal Simon effect decays, but the vertical Simon effect does not change. Activation theories, which propose a decay of the automatically activated response ipsilateral to the stimulus, mainly apply to the horizontal Simon effect. In contrast, translation theories, which propose that the effect occurs when stimulus features are translated into a response code, are more suitable to account for the vertical Simon effect.     

Response coding in the Simon task

Recent findings indicate that two distinct mechanisms can contribute to a Simon effect: a visuomotor information transmission on the one hand and a cognitive code interference on the other hand (see for e.g., Wiegand & Wascher, in Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 2005a). Furthermore, it was proposed that the occurrence of one or the other mechanism strongly depends on the way responses are coded. Visuomotor information transmission seems to depend on a correspondence between stimulus position and spatial anatomical status of the effector, whereas cognitive code interference is thought to be based on relative response location codes. To further test the spatial anatomic coding hypothesis, three experiments were conducted, in which the Simon effect with unimanual responses was investigated for horizontal (Experiment 1 and 2) and vertical (Experiment 3) stimulus-response (S-R) relations. Based on the finding of a decreasing effect function (indicating the presence of visuomotor information transmission) for horizontal and vertical S-R relations, it was concluded that visuomotor information transmission occurs whenever there is an overlap between the spatial stimulus feature and parameters of the motor representation of the response. Furthermore, the specific motor representation seems to be task dependent, that is, it entails those response parameters that clearly differentiate between the two response alternatives in a given task situation.     

The enhanced Simon effect for older adults is reduced when the irrelevant location information is conveyed by an accessory stimulus

The Simon effect, better performance when irrelevant stimulus location corresponds with the response location than when it does not, typically is larger for older than younger adults. However, Simon and Pouraghabagher [Simon, R. J., & Pouraghabagher, A. R. (1978). The effect of aging on the stages of processing in a choice reaction time task. Journal of Gerontology, 33, 553-561] found no age difference using an accessory-stimulus Simon task in which the relevant dimension was the color of a visual stimulus and the irrelevant dimension the location of a tone. Experiment 1 confirmed that older adults show a larger Simon effect than younger adults for the visual Simon task and that this age-related deficit is reduced or eliminated for the auditory-accessory task. Experiment 2 provided evidence suggesting that a small part of the age-related deficit in the visual Simon task is due to having to code the location of the relevant stimulus, but Experiment 3 showed that the majority of the deficit is due to the relevant and irrelevant information being conveyed by the same stimulus. Reaction-time distribution analyses show similar functions for younger and older adults, suggesting that the time course of activation is similar for both age groups.     

Elimination of the enhanced Simon effect for older adults in a three-choice situation: Ageing and the Simon effect in a go/no-go Simon task

In a Simon task, participants show better performance when the irrelevant stimulus location corresponds with the response location than when it does not, and this effect is typically greater for older adults than for younger adults. To study the effect of cognitive ageing in the Simon task, we compared young and old adults using two versions of the Simon task: (a) a standard visual Simon task, for which participants respond with left and right key-presses to the red and green colours of stimuli presented in left and right locations; (b) a go/no-go version of the Simon task, which was basically the same, except that the shape of the stimulus in one third of the trials indicates that no response is to be made. In both tasks, both age groups showed the Simon effect. The magnitude of the effect for the standard Simon task was greater for the older adults than for the younger adults. Nevertheless, the two groups showed an equivalent Simon effect in the go/no-go version of the Simon task. Reaction time distribution analyses revealed basically similar functions for both age groups: a decreasing pattern of the Simon effect in the standard task and an increasing pattern of the effect in the go/no-go version of the task. The results suggest that older adults find it more difficult to suppress an automatic activation of the corresponding response, though this automatic activation was reduced in situations where the response was frequently inhibited.     

Modes of spatial coding in the Simon task*

Many models of the Simon effect assume that categorical spatial representations underlie the phenomenon. The present study tested this assumption explicitly in two experiments, both of which involved eight possible spatial positions of imperative stimuli arranged horizontally on the screen. In Experiment 1, the eight stimulus locations were marked with eight square boxes that appeared at the same time during a trial. Results showed gradually increasing Simon effects from the central locations to the outer locations. In Experiment 2, the eight stimulus locations consisted of a combination of three frames of spatial reference (hemispace, hemifield, and position relative to the fixation), with each frame appearing in different timings. In contrast to Experiment 1, results showed an oscillating pattern of the Simon effect across the horizontal positions. These findings are discussed in terms of grouping factors involved in the Simon task. The locations seem to be coded as a single continuous dimension when all are visible at once as in Experiment 1, but they are represented as a combination of the lateral categories (“left” vs. “right”) with multiple frames of reference when the reference frames are presented successively as in Experiment 2.     

The influence of dimensional overlap on location-related priming in the Simon task

Choice reaction times are shorter when stimulus and response locations are compatible than when they are incompatible as in the Simon effect. Recent studies revealed that Simon effects are strongly attenuated when there is temporal overlap with a different high-priority task, accompanied by a decrease of early location-related response priming as reflected in the lateralized readiness potential (LRP). The latter result was obtained in a study excluding overlap of stimulus location with any other dimension in the tasks. Independent evidence suggests that location-related priming might be present in conditions with dimensional overlap. Here we tested this prediction in a dual-task experiment supplemented with recording LRPs. The secondary task was either a standard Simon task where irrelevant stimulus location overlapped with dimensions of the primary task or a Stroop-like Simon task including additional overlap of irrelevant and relevant stimulus attributes. At high temporal overlap, there was no Simon effect nor was there stimulus-related response priming in either condition. Therefore stimulus-triggered response priming seems to be abolished in conditions of limited capacity even if the likelihood of an S–R compatibility effect is maximized.     

Effects of saccades and response type on the Simon effect: If you look at the stimulus,the Simon effect may be gone

The Simon effect has most often been investigated with key-press responses and eye fixation. In the present study, we asked how the type of eye movement and the type of manual response affect response selection in a Simon task. We investigated three eye movement instructions (spontaneous, saccade, and fixation) while participants performed goal-directed (i.e., reaching) or symbolic (i.e., finger-lift) responses. Initially, no oculomotor constraints were imposed, and a Simon effect was present for both response types. Next, eye movements were constrained. Participants had to either make a saccade toward the stimulus or maintain gaze fixed in the screen centre. While a congruency effect was always observed in reaching responses, it disappeared in finger-lift responses. We suggest that the redirection of saccades from the stimulus to the correct response location in noncorresponding trials contributes to the Simon effect. Because of eye–hand coupling, this occurred in a mandatory manner with reaching responses but not with finger-lift responses. Thus, the Simon effect with key-presses disappears when participants do what they typically do—look at the stimulus.     

Influences of response position and hand posture on the orthogonal Simon effect

When lateralized responses are made to the locations of vertically arrayed stimuli, two types of mapping effect have been reported: an overall up–right/down–left advantage and mapping preferences that vary with response position. According to Cho and Proctor's (2003) multiple asymmetric codes account, these orthogonal stimulus–response compatibility effects are due to the correspondence of stimulus polarity and response polarity, as determined by the positions relative to multiple frames of reference. The present study examined these two types of orthogonal compatibility for situations in which participants made left–right responses to the colours of a vertically arrayed stimulus set, and stimulus location was irrelevant. Although a significant orthogonal Simon effect was not evident when responding at a centred, neutral response position, the effect was modulated by response eccentricity (Experiment 2) and hand posture (Experiment 3). These effects are qualitatively similar to those obtained when stimulus location is task relevant. The results imply that, as Proctor and Cho's (2006) polarity correspondence principle suggests, the stimulus polarity code activates the response code of corresponding polarity even when stimulus location is irrelevant to the task.