Stimulus-response compatibility with pure and mixed mappings in a flight task environment

The present study examined the stimulus-response compatibility (SRC) effect in a simulated flight environment. Experiments 1 and 2 tested the effect with pure and mixed mappings in flight tasks by using attitude displays with inside-out and outside-in formats, whereas Experiments 3 and 4 used a simplified display and tasks. The SRC effect was obtained with mixed mappings when responses were turns of a flight yoke (Experiments 1-3). In contrast, the SRC effect was absent with mixed mappings when they were buttonpresses (Experiment 4). Analyses of sequential effects suggest that the reduction in Experiments 1-3 can be attributed to reduction in the frequency of trials for which the congruent mapping repeats, but the elimination in Experiment 4 cannot be. Implications of the findings are discussed in the context of aviation cockpit design.