Abstract
Choice responses are faster when target position and response side correspond than when they do not, even if target position is response-irrelevant. This “Simon effect” has also been observed in case of multi-item arrays. Generally, it is assumed that an automatically generated spatial response code is responsible for the effect. The referential-coding account assumes that this code is directly related to the target, although the moment of production of the code is not fully clear. The attention-shift account assumes that the code is directly related to the direction of the most recent attentional shift. An experiment was performed in which left or right target locations were indicated by arrows occurring before (precue), simultaneous with (simcue), or after (postcue) six-element arrays. Overt responses and EEG potentials were recorded. The Simon effect was present in all conditions, and decreased when responses were slower. No relation was found between amplitude of posterior lateralized components and the magnitude of the Simon effect. A posterior contralateral negativity was also found after presenting the arrays in the precue condition, which might reflect the reorienting of attention toward the target position. The results are more favorable to the referential-coding account although this account becomes very similar to the attention-shift hypothesis as the moment of formation of the spatial response code is related to effective target onset rather than to stimulus onset.
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Notes
The term “spatial code” refers to the neuronal representation of a location in outer space. This code may be directly related to a stimulus or a response modality, but it may also be supramodal, referring to a description of space that is independent from but linked with different stimulus and also response modalities.
This criterion of 40 µV was determined in sessions which revealed that the amplitude of the hEOG in cases of a horizontal eye movement increases about 20 µV per degree of visual angle (see also Van der Lubbe & Woestenburg, 1999; Van der Lubbe & Keuss, 2001). So by approximation, eye movements larger than 2° were rejected from further analyses.
Hommel suggested that precues may not only speed up identification but also processing and possibly decay of the spatial response code along the automatic route, which could result in a Simon effect of equal magnitude in the three cue conditions.
We thank Hartmut Leuthold for this suggestion.
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Acknowledgements
Rob Van der Lubbe was supported by a grant from The Netherlands Organization for Fundamental Research (NWO) to Albert Postma (No. 440–20–000). In addition, Rob Van der Lubbe and Piotr Jaśkowski were supported by grants from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) to Rolf Verleger (110/7–1 and 110/7–2). We thank Aytaç Aydemir for his help in performing the experiment. Additionally, we want to thank Bernhard Hommel, Hartmut Leuthold, and Carlo Umiltà for thoughtful comments on earlier versions of this article.
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Van der Lubbe, R.H.J., Jaśkowski, P. & Verleger, R. Mechanisms underlying spatial coding in a multiple-item Simon task. Psychological Research 69, 179–190 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-004-0176-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-004-0176-7