Response selection in spatial choice reaction: Further evidence against associative models

In a “consistent” spatial choice reaction task the same spatial relationship obtains between each stimulus and its correct response. In an “inconsistent” task this is not so. While Duncan (1977a) found both easy (spatially corresponding) and difficult (spatially opposite) responses to be slowed in inconsistent tasks, Smith (1977) found this only for the corresponding responses, the reverse holding for opposites. Reasons for this discrepancy are examined. The result of Smith (1977) depends on the use of different numbers of alternative responses in consistent and inconsistent tasks, a situation allowing no useful comparison between the two. Effects of consistency are related to others in the literature. The general conclusion is that, in these tasks, response selection is based not on a list of associations between individual stimuli and responses, but on operations or rules each of which will generate a set of stimulus-response pairs.