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When participants respond to a task-relevant stimulus attribute by pressing a left or right key with the respective index finger, reaction time is shorter if task-irrelevant left-right stimulus location corresponds to that of the response key than if it does not. For right-handers, this Simon effect is larger for right-located than left-located stimuli; for left-handers this Simon-effect asymmetry is reversed. A similar asymmetry has been found for right-footers pressing pedals with their feet. For analyses that separate stimulus- and response-location factors, these asymmetries appear as a main effect of response location, with responses being faster with the dominant effector. If the Simon-effect asymmetry is strictly a function of effector dominance, it should reverse for left-footers responding with their feet. In Experiment 1, left-dominant persons showed faster responses with the left than right hand but with the right than left foot, a finding consistent with prior research on tapping actions. Right-dominant persons also showed the right-foot asymmetry but, unexpectedly, not the typical asymmetry with hand responses. To evaluate whether hand-presses yield results distinct from finger-presses, in Experiment 2 participants performed the Simon task with finger-presses and hand-presses. The opposing asymmetries for right- and left-dominant persons were evident for both response modes. Our results are consistent with the view that the Simon effect asymmetry is primarily due to differences in effector efficiency, usually but not always favoring the dominant effector.

Spatial influences may be introduced to an experimental task by manipulations performed on the stimulus or the response or by virtue of the type of stimuli under study. Identification of spatial influences is especially pertinent in investigations of laterality, as isolation of processing to one hemisphere may inadvertently introduce spatial confounds. Because, however, space is not a relevant task feature, it may not always be obvious that it should be taken into consideration. Failure to anticipate these spatial influences can affect the conclusions drawn from results. The current work examines potential spatial influences in an experimental paradigm previously used to investigate perceptual asymmetries for duration estimation in which both stimulus presentation and response selection were lateralized. Potential spatial influences (including the spatial-temporal association of response codes - STEARC, spatial attention, and the Simon effect) are identified and systematically tested over 5 experiments. Results suggest that previously observed perceptual asymmetries in this experimental paradigm may be the result of a spatial confound, specifically, that of the Simon effect. Using vertical response options with the lateral stimulus presentation, however, mitigated the spatial influence. Altogether, the current work demonstrates the importance of carefully considering potential spatial confounds prior to commencement of laterality studies.

We describe a mathematically simple yet precise model of activation suppression that can explain the negative-going delta plots often observed in standard Simon tasks. The model postulates a race between the identification of the relevant stimulus attribute and the suppression of irrelevant location-based activation, with the irrelevant activation only having an effect if the irrelevant activation is still present at the moment when central processing of the relevant attribute starts. The model can be fitted by maximum likelihood to observed distributions of RTs in congruent and incongruent trials, and it provides good fits to two previously-reported data sets with plausible parameter values. R and MATLAB software for use with the model is provided.

When two participants perform a go/no go task, sharing the same display but responding to different targets, their responses show a spatial compatibility effect. A shape on the side of a participan...

The PreRegistration of our upcoming study concerning the "Simon effect" with influence of the vestibular system.

In this repository all the materials regarding the study "Dancing Numbers: Exploring Dancers’ Space-Numbers Associations" are collected.

Visual Cognition; 2015 Sep 14; 23(8): 1043–1060. Work supported by ESRC grant ES/K000012/1 awarded to ST.

ExPra University of Hildesheim Fenske

Recent studies suggest that covering the face inhibits the recognition of identity and emotional expressions. However, it might also make the eyes more salient, since they are a reliable index to orient our social and spatial attention. This study investigates (1) whether the pervasive interaction with people with face masks fostered by the COVID-19 pandemic modulates the processing of spatial information essential to shift attention according to other’s eye-gaze direction (i.e., gaze-cueing effect: GCE), and (2) whether this potential modulation interacts with motor responses (i.e., Simon effect). Participants were presented with face cues orienting their gaze to a congruent or incongruent target letter location (gaze-cueing paradigm) while wearing a surgical mask (Mask), a patch (Control), or nothing (No-Mask). The task required to discriminate the identity of the lateralized target letters by pressing one of two lateralized response keys, in a corresponding or a non-corresponding position with respect to the target. Results showed that GCE was not modulated by the presence of the Mask, but it occurred in the No-Mask condition, confirming previous studies. Crucially, the GCE interacted with Simon effect in the Mask and Control conditions, though in different ways. While in the Mask condition the GCE emerged only when target and response positions corresponded (i.e., Simon-corresponding trials), in the Control condition it emerged only when they did not correspond (i.e., Simon-non-corresponding trials). These results indicate that people with face masks induce us to jointly orient our visual attention in the direction of the seen gaze (GCE) in those conditions resembling (or associated with) a general approaching behavior (Simon-corresponding trials). This is likely promoted by the fact that we tend to perceive wearing the mask as a personal safety measure and, thus, someone wearing the face mask is perceived as a trustworthy person. In contrast, people with a patch on their face can be perceived as more threatening, therefore inducing a GCE in those conditions associated with a general avoidance behavior (Simon-non-corresponding trials).

The PreRegistration of our upcoming study concerning the "Simon effect" with influence of the vestibular system and eccentricity.

The spatial-numerical association of response codes (SNARC) effect showed that small/large numbers represented in the left/right space facilitated left/right responses, respectively. However, the processing stage (semantic representation or response selection) of the SNARC effect is still controversial. To investigate this issue, we adopted a modified magnitude comparison task in which the effects of SNARC, Stroop (semantic-representation stage), and Simon (response-selection stage) could be simultaneously induced. The processing stages of the SNARC effect were investigated by examining the interactions among these effects. According to the additive factor logic, if two effects are interactive, then they occur in the same stage; if two effects are additive, then they occur in different stages. Across two experiments, the SNARC effect interacted with the Stroop effect and with the Simon effect. These results suggested that the SNARC effect occurred in both the semantic-representation and response-selection stages and provided insight into that the SNARC effect might have two originating sources.

Inhibition of return (IOR) refers to slower responses to targets presented at previously cued locations. Contrasting target discrimination performance over various eye movement conditions has shown the level of activation of the reflexive oculomotor system determines the nature of the effect. Notably, an inhibitory effect of a cue nearer to the input end of the processing continuum is observed when the reflexive oculomotor system is actively suppressed, and an inhibitory effect nearer the output end of the processing continuum is observed when the reflexive oculomotor system is actively engaged. Furthermore, these two forms of IOR interact differently with the Simon effect. Drift diffusion modeling has suggested that two parameters can theoretically account for the speed-accuracy tradeoff rendered by the output-based form of IOR: increased threshold and decreased trial noise. In Experiment 1, we demonstrate that the threshold parameter best accounts for the output-based form of IOR by measuring it with intermixed discrimination and localization targets. Experiment 2 employed the response-signal methodology and showed that the output-based form has no effect on the accrual of information about the target’s identity. These results converge with the response bias account for the output form of IOR.

In recent years, some studies have started to explore the impact of individual general executive functions (EFs) on bilingual language control. To our knowledge, few studies have systematically examined various components of EFs on different levels of language control in bilinguals. In two experiments, we investigated the effects of two components of IC on different levels of bilingual language control. The language-switching task was used to tap into language control at different levels. The Simon task was used to measure interference suppression in Experiment 1, and a go/no-go task was used to measure response inhibition in Experiment 2. Experiment 1 found that the smaller the Simon effect was, the larger the asymmetry of switch costs was. Experiment 2 found that the shorter the go response time was, the larger the global slowing effect was. Taken together, these findings suggest that the interference suppression component of domain-general IC facilitates local level language control, while response inhibition impacts global level language control in bilinguals.

The Simon effect is a stimulus-response compatibility effect in which the spatial dimension of the stimulus is task-irrelevant. This effect is often larger in reaction time (RT) for the stimulus located on the dominant-hand side of participants, for most of which it is the right hand, due to dominant-hand keypress responses being faster than non-dominant-hand responses. Experiment 1 demonstrated that pedal-press responses with the left and right feet show a similar asymmetry, favoring the right response for right-footed persons. The asymmetric pattern for keypress responses was absent in results of Wallace (Journal of Experimental Psychology, 93, 163-168, 1972) when participants were not permitted to see the response keys or their hands placed on the keys at any time during the experiment, whereas we found the asymmetric pattern in a recent study when participants placed their hands on the keys prior to their being covered up. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that the Simon effect asymmetry for RT was evident even when participants were prevented from seeing the response device and their responding hands or feet. Although both hands and feet showed a Simon effect asymmetry in RT, consideration of incorrect responses suggested that whereas the asymmetry for hands is not due to a response bias, that for the feet may be due at least in part to such bias. Regardless, our results suggest that the Simon effect asymmetry is mainly an artifact of comparing conditions for which one response is made by the faster dominant right effector and the other with the slower non-dominant left effector.

In most of our daily activities and in team sports, we interact with other individuals and do not act in isolation. Using a social variant of the standard two-choice Simon task, this study aims to test if competitive/cooperative processing modes (i.e., metacontrol states) change the degree of bodily self-other integration between two persons in joint action. In addition, and more exploratory the study tested if this effect depends on a shared group experience with the partner. Two participants shared a visual Simon task, so that each person basically performed complementary parts of the task, which transfers the paradigm into a go/no-go Simon task for each person. Before running this joint Simon task, we set both participants either in a competitive or a cooperative control state by means of a dyadic game, a manipulation aimed at testing possible goal transfer across tasks. We found significant joint Simon effects for participants who were in a competitive state and for participants who were in a cooperative state. The joint Simon effect for participants being in a competitive state was significantly smaller than for participants being in a cooperative state. When experiencing the goal induction together with the partner, the joint Simon effect was significantly decreased as when the induction was performed alone. Both effects (metacontrol state induction and shared experience) seem to be statistically independent of each other. In line with predictions of metacontrol state theory, our study indicated that abstract cognitive goal states can be transferred from one task to another task, able to affect the degree of bodily self-other integration across different task situations.

To explore the time course of space- and object-based attentional selection processes I analysed the shapes of the response time (RT) and accuracy distributions of left/right arrow identification responses in the two-rectangle paradigm. After cueing one of the four ends of two horizontally or vertically oriented rectangles the arrow typically appears at the cued location (valid), or sometimes at an uncued location in the same (invalid-same) or other rectangle (invalid-different). The data point to a multiple-route model in which (a) an informative cue generates response channel activation before arrow signals emerge, (b) the task-irrelevant arrow location is represented in multiple egocentric and allocentric reference frames around 150 ms after target onset, with the former including a reference frame centered on the currently attended location, (c) the task-irrelevant spatial codes activate premature response tendencies that are actively inhibited to allow gating of arrow direction signals, (d) after an invalid cue the onset of the arrow triggers an “attention shift” – acting between 150 and 240 ms after target onset – that strongly interferes with task performance in certain conditions (invalid-same cueing with horizontal rectangles, and invalid-different cueing with vertical rectangles), and (e) participants differ in which task-irrelevant codes they preferentially inhibit. These results pave the way for future confirmatory studies to temporally characterize and disentangle the contributions of different types of response channel activation processes, from those of reactive cognitive control processes including active and selective response suppression.

Many theories of numerical cognition assume that numbers and space share a common representation at the response level. For example, observers are faster to respond to small numbers with their left hand and large numbers with their right hand (the SNARC effect). There is also evidence that viewing numbers can produce spatial shifts of attention, suggesting that attention may play a role in the spatial representation of numbers. In the present study, we assessed whether shifts of attention can influence numerical processing. Participants viewed a leftward or rightward peripheral cue followed by a centrally presented number, then judged whether the number was odd or even. Participants responded faster and made fewer errors when the number magnitude and response side were compatible, revealing a response-based SNARC effect. Participants also responded faster when the cue direction and response side were compatible, revealing a Simon effect. However, participants did not respond faster when the cue direction and number magnitude were compatible. Similar findings were observed when the association between numbers and space was relatively explicit. Moreover, although we failed to observe a response-based SNARC effect when number magnitude was directly relevant to observers' task, we observed a large Simon effect. Together, these findings suggest that although numbers and space share a common representation at the response level, attention does not play a substantial role in the spatial representation of numbers.

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: Language brokering (LB) is an informal translation experience where bilinguals serve as linguistic and cultural intermediaries for family members. LB may have long-term socio-emotional and cognitive outcomes, yet little is known about its effects on executive functions (EFs). This study examines how first language (L1) proficiency and negative emotions tied to language brokering experiences affect EF performance on a Simon task (ST). Design/methodology/approach: Fifty-three Mexican American Spanish–English bilinguals with LB experience performed a ST, and reported their feelings towards LB for their mother. Data and analysis: Mean reaction times (RTs) and accuracy rates for correct ST trials were analyzed using linear mixed effects modeling, with trial type, proficiency and negative emotions tied to LB experience as factors and their interactions as additional predictors. Findings/conclusions: The L1 proficiency and negative emotions tied to brokering experiences have divergent, but combined effects on EF. Contrary to our hypotheses, low L1 proficiency predicted better performance and the smallest Simon effect was found for brokers with low L1 proficiency and low negative emotional brokering experiences. However, high L1 proficiency predicted better performance (smallest RTs) regardless of negative emotions tied to brokering experiences. Originality: This study takes a different perspective on the examination of individual differences among bilinguals, in which we examine how negative emotions tied to brokering experiences coupled with L1 proficiency relates to EF performance. Significance/implications: Our results provide support for the need to understand how individual differences in bilingual language experiences, such as L1 proficiency and negative emotions tied to LB, interact with performance on the ST.

For the vertical Simon task, in which stimuli and responses are arrayed along the vertical dimension and stimulus location is irrelevant, a Simon effect (benefit for stimulus-response correspondence) is typically obtained. Results have been mixed about whether performing fewer than 100 trials of a spatially incompatible mapping prior to a Simon task reduces or eliminates this vertical Simon effect in a transfer session. Several reasons have been suggested to explain why previous studies show disparate results. Previously, we ruled out orientation of the response panel in the transverse or horizontal plane as a critical factor. The present experiments evaluated two other possible factors: finger/hand placement and relevant stimulus dimension. In Experiment 1, we found reduction of the vertical Simon effect for a circle-square discrimination after incompatible practice using a separate numeric keypad as the response device, regardless of whether the keypad was placed on a table and operated by index fingers or held in the hands and operated by thumbs. In Experiment 2, we replicated the reduction for the circle-square discrimination but found no evidence of reduction for a red-green color discrimination. Overall, our results suggest that the relevant discrimination of red-green color versus circle-square shape is responsible for the discrepancy in results across prior studies.

Abstract. Subjects usually respond faster and more accurate in trials in which the response location corresponds to a task-irrelevant stimulus location compared to when not. Previous research has shown, that this so-called Simon effect is reduced after non-corresponding compared to after corresponding trials. As of now it is yet unclear what exact mechanisms drive such sequential modulations. One theory assumes a conflict adaptation mechanism that decreases the influence of incongruent information after non-corresponding trials via increased cognitive control. However, other authors claim that feature integration processes may be the underlying mechanism as the amount of feature overlap differs between different correspondence sequences. Unfortunately, this also means that in the standard Simon task the repetition of task features and correspondence sequences are not independent. In order to address this issue, we mapped four stimuli to two responses in the present EEG study. This way, we created a task, which allows for sequences in which the stimulus identity may change without alternating the required response. These sequences may either comprise a change of the stimulus position or not and the contribution of feature integration as well as conflict adaptation processes could thus be observed independently. Our results indicate that the repetition of task features affects performance to a stronger degree than the correspondence sequence and feature integration processes do. Yet, an impact of both could still be observed. The strongest effect of feature repetitions on task performance was observed for task-relevant features, especially for the imperative stimulus identity itself. The EEG results support these findings. The amplitudes of the fronto-central N2 and the parietal P3 decreased with increasing feature overlap from one trial to the next. The posterior lateralization, reflected by the posterior contralateral negativity (PCN), however, appears to reflect mainly changes in the stimulus location and stimulus–response (S–R) correspondence rather than feature repetitions per se.

Background Car accidents due to unexpected forward or backward runaway by older drivers are a serious social problem. Although the cause of these accidents is often attributed to stepping on the accelerator instead of the brake, it is difficult to induce such pedal application errors systematically with usual drive simulators. We developed a simple personal computer system that induces the pedal errors, and investigate the effects of age on the error behaviors. Methods The system consisted of a laptop computer and a three-pedal foot mouse. It measured response time, accuracy, and flexibility of pedal operation to visual stimuli. The system displayed two open circles on the computer display, lighting one of the circles in a random order and interval. Subjects were instructed to press the foot pedal with their right foot as quickly as possible when the circle was lit; the ipsilateral pedal to the lit circle in a parallel mode and the contralateral pedal in a cross mode. When the correct pedal was pressed, the light went off immediately, but when the wrong pedal was pressed, the buzzer sounded and the light remained on until the correct pedal was pressed. During a 6-min trial, the mode was switched between parallel and cross every 2 min. During the cross mode, a cross mark appears on the display. The pedal responses were evaluated in 52 subjects divided into young (20–29 years), middle-aged (30–64 years), and older (65–84 years) groups. Additionally, the repeatability of the pedal response characteristic indicators was examined in 14 subjects who performed this test twice. Results The mean response time was 95 ms (17%) longer in the older group than in the young group. More characteristically, however, the older group showed 2.1 times more frequent pedal errors, fell into long hesitations (response freezing > 3 s) 16 times more often, and took 1.8 times longer period to correct the wrong pedal than the young groups. The indicators of pedal response characteristics showed within-individual repeatability to the extent that can identify the age-dependent changes. Conclusions Hesitations and extended error correction time can be associated with increased crash risk due to unexpected runaway by older drivers. The system we have developed may help to uncover and evaluate physiological characteristics related to crash risk in the elderly population.

Two experiments examined whether the location-based Simon effect and word- or arrow-based Simon effects, and their interaction, emerge in the same task situations by presenting location words 左 and 右 (left and right, Experiment 1) or single-headed arrows (left and right pointing, Experiment 2) in the left–right visual field. These tasks include two attributes of task-irrelevant location information, physical location and either location word (Experiment 1) or arrow direction (Experiment 2), when they vary jointly for a single stimulus. Moreover, the location-based Simon effect in these tasks was compared to that obtained in a pure location-based Simon task. Results showed that (1) the location-, word- and arrow-based Simon effects occurred on both mean RT and delta plots; (2) the word- and arrow-based Simon effects interacted with the location-based Simon effect on mean RT; (3) the Simon effect in the pure location-based Simon task differed little from the location-based Simon effect in the two joint Simon tasks. These results indicate that different task-irrelevant spatial attributes can influence responses in the same task, and that one of them can influence the effect of the other on responses. This latter result offers evidence that the different attributes do not provide separate sources of activation.

Evidence is currently mixed regarding the way in which cognitive conflict modulates the effect of emotion on task performance. The present study aimed to address methodological differences across previous studies and investigate the conditions under which interference from emotional stimuli can either be elicited or eliminated under high cognitive conflict. Four behavioural experiments were conducted with a university sample using a gender-discrimination stimulus-response compatibility task. In line with our previous findings, Experiment 1 found that when emotion and cognitive conflict conditions were blocked, emotional faces increased reaction time interference during response compatible trials (low conflict) but not response incompatible trials (high conflict). However, when conflict and emotion conditions were randomised in different configurations across Experiments 2 (all trials randomised), 3 (emotion blocked, compatibility randomised) and 4 (compatibility blocked, emotion randomised), emotion interfered with task performance across both high and low conflict trials. These results suggest that predictability of both compatibility and emotion is required in order to obtain reduced emotional interference under high cognitive conflict. Consistent with prior reports, a top-down anticipatory control mechanism seems to be engaged in the presence of negative emotion when there are incompatible stimulus-response mappings.

Earlier findings suggest that positions of power decrease self-other integration and increase psychological distance to others. Until now, however, evidence for this relation rests exclusively on subjective measures. The current research instead employed a vertical joint Simon task to measure self-other integration. This task assesses the extent to which people represent their own actions in reference to their co-actor's, also referred to as the joint Simon effect. Building on cultural associations between power and vertical elevation, we manipulated whether participants were in an elevated (high-power) or lower (low-power) seating position. Experiments 1a and 1b reanalyzed existing datasets and found that elevated (vs. lower) seating position decreased the joint Simon effect, consistent with predictions. Experiment 2 provides a high-powered replication of this finding. Yet, further analyses revealed that feelings of power – measured as a manipulation check and indeed demonstrating that the manipulation was successful – did not mediate or moderate the effect of seating position on the joint Simon effect. Therefore, it is possible that the effect of seating elevation was driven through other aspects of that manipulation than feelings of power. We discuss these and suggest ways to test these alternative explanations.

Selection and effort are central to attention, yet it is unclear whether they draw on a common pool of cognitive resources, and if so, whether there are differences for early versus later stages of cognitive processing. This study assessed effort by quantifying the vigilance decrement, and spatial processing at early and later stages as a function of time-on-task. Participants performed an auditory spatial attention task, with occasional "catch" trials requiring no response. Psychophysiological measures included bilateral cerebral blood flow (transcranial Doppler), pupil dilation, and blink rate. The shape of attention gradients using reaction time indexed early processing, and did not significantly vary over time. Later stimulus-response conflict was comparable over time, except for a reduction to left hemispace stimuli. Target and catch trial accuracy decreased with time, with a more abrupt decrease for catch versus target trials. Diffusion decision modeling found progressive decreases in information accumulation rate and non-decision time, and the adoption of more liberal response criteria. Cerebral blood flow increased from baseline and then decreased over time, particularly in the left hemisphere. Blink rate steadily increased over time, while pupil dilation increased only at the beginning and then returned towards baseline. The findings suggest dissociations between resources for selectivity and effort. Measures of high subjective effort and temporal declines in catch trial accuracy and cerebral blood flow velocity suggest a standard vigilance decrement was evident in parallel with preserved selection. Different attentional systems and classes of computations that may account for dissociations between selectivity versus effort are discussed.

In the current review, we argue that experimental results usually interpreted as evidence for cognitive resource limitations could also reflect functional necessities of human information processing. First, we point out that selective processing of only specific features, objects, or locations at each moment in time allows humans to monitor the success and failure of their own overt actions and covert cognitive procedures. We then proceed to show how certain instances of selectivity are at odds with commonly assumed resource limitations. Next, we discuss examples of seemingly automatic, resource-free processing that challenge the resource view but can be easily understood from the functional perspective of monitoring cognitive procedures. Finally, we suggest that neurophysiological data supporting resource limitations might actually reflect mechanisms of how procedural control is implemented in the brain.

Research suggests that – particularly – the execution of precision-demanding far-aiming tasks necessitates an optimal coupling between perception and action. In this regard, the duration of the last fixation before initiating movement – i.e., the Quiet Eye (QE) – has been functionally related to subsequent motor performance. In the current study, we investigated potential mechanisms of QE by applying the Simon paradigm – i.e., cognitive interferences evoked by stimulus-effect incompatibilities over response selection. To this end, we had participants throw balls as precisely as possible, either with their left or right hand (hands condition, HC) or at left or right targets (targets condition, TC), respectively. Via monaural auditory stimuli, participants received information about the hand side and the target side, respectively, either with compatible (i.e., congruent stimulus-effect side) or incompatible (i.e., incongruent stimulus-effect side) stimulus-effect mappings. Results showed that participants reacted slower and showed later first fixation onsets at the target in incompatible vs. compatible trials, thus, replicating and extending the classical Simon effect. Crucially, in the HC, there were earlier QE onsets and longer QE durations in incompatible (vs. compatible) trials, suggesting an inhibition of cognitive interferences over response selection to preserve motor performance. These findings are in line with attentional explanations of QE, suggesting optimized attentional control with efficient management of limited cognitive resources (optimal-attentional-control explanation) or with the inhibition of alternative response parametrization (inhibition explanation).

A previous study used days as a sequence symbol to investigate the interaction mechanism between location and sequence in sequence symbol cognition; the study findings suggested that the spatial stimulus-response compatibility effect and the Simon effect could not co-exist with the SNARC-like effect when processing sequence symbols. The previous study did not include the influence of the difficulty of identifying sequence symbols on the Simon effect in the investigation, so it is unclear whether the conclusion about processing sequence symbols with considerable identification difficulty can be extended to the processing of sequence symbols with less identification difficulty. Therefore, the present study explored letters that have a low level of identification difficulty to investigate the interaction mechanism between location and sequence in sequence symbol cognition. Participants were asked to classify a probe letter, which was randomly displayed on the left or right side of the screen, according to its location (Experiment 1), its sequence (Experiment 2) or its colour (Experiment 3). The results indicated that (1) only the spatial stimulus-response compatibility effect and Simon effect were present in the letter location classification task and letter colour classification task, respectively. (2) The Simon effect co-existed with the SNARC-like effect, and these two effects interacted with each other in the letter sequence classification task. From these results, it can be concluded that the task determines whether the Simon effect and the SNARC-like effect can co-exist, with differences presented across sequence symbols.

The Simon effect, that is the advantage of the spatial correspondence between stimulus and response locations when stimulus location is task irrelevant, occurs even when the task is performed by two participants, each performing a go/no-go task. This effect, known as the joint Simon effect, does not emerge when participants sit outside each other's peripersonal space, thus suggesting that the presence of an active confederate in peripersonal space might provide a reference for response coding. The present study investigated whether this finding is due to the distance separating the participants and/or to the distance separating each participant and the other agent's response. In two experiments, pairs of participants performed a social detection task sitting outside each other's arm reach, with response keys located close to the participants or outside arm reach. When the response key was located outside the participant's arm reach, he/she could reach it by means of a tool. In Experiment 1, by means of a tool, participants could reach their response key only, while in Experiment 2, they could reach also their co-agent's response key. The joint Simon effect did not emerge when participants could not reach the co-actor's response, while it emerged when they could potentially reach the other participant's response using the tool, but only when turn taking was required. These results may be taken as evidence that the possibility to reach and act upon the co-actor's response key may be at the bases of compatibility effects observed in joint action contexts requiring complementary responses.

Although the joint Simon task (JST) has been investigated for more than a decade, its cause is still unclear. According to ideomotor views of action control, action effects are a commonly cited explanation. However, action effects are usually confounded with the actions producing such effects. We combined a JST with eye tracking and asked participants to respond by performing specific saccades. Saccades were followed by visual feedback (central vs. lateral feedback), serving as the action effect. This arrangement allowed us to isolate actions from action effects and, also to prevent each actor from seeing the reciprocal actions of the other actor. In this saccadic JST, we found a significant compatibility effect in the individual setting. The typical enhanced compatibility effect in the joint setting of the JST was absent with central action feedback and even when lateralized visual action feedback was provided. Our findings suggest that the perception of action effects alone might not be sufficient to modulate compatibility effects for eye movements. The presence of a compatibility effect in the individual setting shows the specific requirements of a saccadic compatibility task - the requirement to perform prosaccades to compatible and antisaccades to incompatible target locations. The lack of a difference between compatibility effects in joint and individual settings and the lack of a modulation of the compatibility effect through lateralized visual action feedback shows that the finding of a joint Simon effect that has frequently been reported for manual responses is absent for saccadic responses.

Deciding what information we attend to has implications on our ability to remain valuable and productive in our respective academic and economic domains. This study investigated if attentional switching due to information technology interruptions would deplete resources in a unique way and impair performance on a response inhibition task. Three groups (120 women, 57 men

Task-irrelevant stimulus location can influence the response performance to task-relevant attributes, generating the location-based Simon effect. Using a Monte Carlo study and other methods, we examined whether the ex-Gaussian distribution provides a good fit to empirical reaction time (RT) distributions in the Simon task and whether reliable Simon effects occur on the ex-Gaussian parameters: (a) the mean (μ), (b) the standard deviation (σ) of the normal distribution, and (c) the tail (τ). Results showed that the ex-Gaussian function fits well to empirical RT distributions, and that these ex-Gaussian parameters are reliable between two trial blocks at the group level. At the individual level, correlation analysis showed that the Simon effect was reliable on the μ parameter but not on σ and τ. Moreover, a partial correlation analysis, with μs of the two blocks as controlling variables, showed that the Simon effect on τ was reliable. These results provide evidence that the ex-Gaussian function is a valuable tool for analyzing the Simon effect and can be considered as an alternative for analyzing RT distributions in Simon-type tasks.

According to the conflict monitoring theory (CMT), one of the most prominent theories of cognitive control, the exertion of cognitive control is triggered by the detection of conflicting response tendencies in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Recent research has challenged this emphasis of response conflicts and has debated whether in addition to shielding after incongruent trials the relaxation after congruent trials also contributes to the sequential adaptation of control. To investigate the functionality of facilitative congruent trials in sequential adaptation of control, we conducted two experiments using a visual (Experiment 1) and an auditory (Experiment 2, preregistered) Simon task with stimuli presented laterally to the left or right (creating response congruent and incongruent trials) or without any particular spatial information (creating neutral trials). Both experiments showed converging results: in the error and reaction time data, the Simon effect was smaller following incongruent trials, larger following congruent trials, and the Simon effect following neutral trials was in-between. Results thus suggest that sequential control adaptations can originate from two processes: Increased shielding in response to incongruent trials and relaxation in response to congruent trials. Argumentations for a functional role of congruent and incongruent trials in the sequential adaptation of control suggest a more general theory of fluency monitoring instead of mere conflict monitoring. In addition, such extensions of the CMT provide theoretical explanations of how control is ever relaxed in response conflict tasks after being enhanced by conflict in the first place. Last but not least, the results may also be taken as a further hint that congruent stimuli may provide a positive affective signal for control relaxation just it has already been shown for incongruent stimuli as aversive signals for the up-regulation of control (shielding).

Abstract. According to conflict-monitoring theory ( Botvinick, Braver, Barch, Carter, & Cohen, 2001 ), sequential adjustments in cognitive control indicate that encountering information-processing conflict engages cognitive-control mechanisms. With 20 participants in an event-related-potential (ERP) experiment, we found significant congruence-sequence effects (CSEs) for behavioral measures and for N2 amplitude, a negative-going ERP component established in previous work to be related to cognitive control. We also found an interaction between the Stroop-trajectory manipulation and a response-compatibility manipulation for behavioral measures and, to a lesser extent, for N2 amplitude, such that the Stroop-trajectory congruence effect was larger on response-compatible than on response-incompatible trials. This study is the first to identify N2 amplitude as a neural correlate of the CSE in a confound-minimized task. Accordingly, these results found N2 amplitude to be associated with adjustments in cognitive control as a function of sequential and response-facilitation effects while also validating the Stroop-trajectory task as a confound-minimized means of assessing neural correlates of CSEs.

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 involv...

Lateralized responses to central targets are facilitated when distractors are presented ipsilaterally (congruent trials) compared with contralaterally (incongruent trials) to the response. This accessory Simon effect is explained by assuming that distractors generate a spatial code that conforms to, or conflicts with, the response. The effect typically diminishes as the distractor-target interval increases. However, it is unclear whether irrelevant spatial codes passively decay or are actively inhibited. Given that inhibition takes time to develop, its operation may reverse the Simon effect-indicated by impaired performance in congruent compared with incongruent trials-when the distractor is presented prior to the target. In the present study, the temporal separation between distractor and target was systematically manipulated. Participants responded to a centrally presented visual (Experiments 1 and 2) or auditory (Experiments 3 and 4) target. A lateralized auditory distractor either occurred prior to, or simultaneously with, the target. A Simon effect occurred when distractor and target were presented simultaneously or in close temporal proximity. The effect was reversed with longer distractor-target intervals, but only when targets and distractors were presented in the same modality (Experiments 3 and 4), suggesting that an inhibition process operates on distractor events, which is stronger in the case of matching target and distractor modalities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Visual snow syndrome (VSS) is a poorly understood neurological disorder that features a range of disabling sensory changes. Visual processing changes revealed previously in VSS appear consistent with poor attentional control, specifically, with difficulty controlling environmentally driven shifts of attention. This study sought to confirm this proposal by determining whether these changes were similarly evident where attention is internally driven. Sixty seven VSS patients and 37 controls completed two saccade tasks: the endogenously cued saccade task and saccadic Simon task. The endogenously cued saccade task correctly (valid trial) or incorrectly (invalid trial) pre-cues a target location using a centrally presented arrow. VSS patients generated significantly shorter saccade latencies for valid trials (p = 0.03), resulting in a greater magnitude cue effect (p = 0.02), i.e. the difference in latency between valid and invalid trials. The saccadic Simon task presents a peripheral cue which may be spatially congruent or incongruent with the subsequent target location. Latencies on this task were comparable for VSS patients and controls, with a normal Simon effect, i.e. shorter latencies for saccades to targets spatially congruent with the preceding cue. On both tasks, VSS patients generated more erroneous saccades than controls towards non-target locations (Endogenously cued saccade task: p = 0.02, saccadic Simon task: p = 0.04). These results demonstrate that cued shifts of attention differentially affect saccade generation in VSS patients. We propose that these changes are not due to impairment of frontally-mediated inhibitory control, but to heightened saccade-related activity in visual regions. These results contribute to a VSS ocular motor signature that may provide clinical utility as well as an objective measure of dysfunction to facilitate future research.

It is crucial for humans to coordinate between behavioural tendencies that can lead to reward but are in conflict with each other. This response conflict can be measured in a reward-modulated Simon task, in which a discriminative response to the identity of a lateral target is required and the target is associated with either high- or low-reward. Critically, the lateral target is presented either congruent or incongruent with the location of the responding hand. It has been shown that relative to the low-reward target, the high-reward target induced a larger response conflict when the target was incongruent with the position of the task-required, reward-obtaining hand. Here we investigated how this response conflict is resolved by acquiring 24 healthy participants' electromyography (EMG) signals from both the task-required responding hand (i.e., goal-directed effector) and the alternative hand (i.e., inappropriate effector). During the coping with the response conflict, motor inhibition (indexed by reduction in EMG signals between conditions) was observed not only at the inappropriate effector but also at the goal-directed effector. Individuals who showed stronger inhibition on the inappropriate effector suffered less from the inhibition on the goal-directed effector, and had more efficient implementation of the reward-obtaining response. Our findings suggest a global motor inhibition that may function to increase the signal-noise ratio in the motor system so as to implement reward-guided behavior.

We investigated how operationalizing bilingualism affects the results on a Simon task in a population of monolingual and bilingual native English speakers (N = 166). Bilingualism was measured in different ways within participants, and the measurements were used both as dichotomous and continuous variables. Our results show that the statistical significance and effect size varied across operationalizations. Specifically, the Composite Factor Score (the Language and Social Background Questionnaire’s general score), showed a bilingual disadvantage on reaction times regardless of how it was used (dichotomously or continuously). When dividing participants into monolinguals and bilinguals based on the Nonnative Language Social Use score (a Language and Social Background Questionnaire subscore), differences in accuracy and reaction times were found between the groups, but the Nonnative Language Social Use score did not predict accuracy when used as a continuous variable (only reaction times). Finally, earlier age of acquisition predicted faster reaction times, but only when used on a continuum. Effect sizes were between the small and medium range. No differences on the Simon effect were found. Our results call for cautiousness when comparing studies using different types of measurements, highlight the need for clarity and transparency when describing samples, and stresses the need for more research on the operationalization of bilingualism.

Influential lines of research propose dual processes-based explanations to account for both the cognitive cost implied in lying and for that entailed in the resolution of the conflict posited by Simon tasks. The emergence and consistency of the Simon effect has been proved to be modulated by both practice effects and transfer effects. Although several studies provided evidence that the lying cognitive demand may vary as a function of practice, whether and how transfer effects could also play a role remains an open question. We addressed this question with one experiment in which participants completed a Differentiation of Deception Paradigm twice (baseline and test sessions). Crucially, between the baseline and the test sessions, participants performed a training session consisting in a spatial compatibility task with incompatible (condition 1) or compatible (condition 2) mapping, a non-spatial task (condition 3) and a no task one (condition 4). Results speak in favour of a modulation of individual performances by means of an immediate prior experience, and specifically with an incompatible spatial training.

Introduction Despite their popularity in Neuropsychology, reaction time analysis based on the subtraction and additive factors methods is critiqued for not paying adequate attention to the dynamical nature of cognition. Mouse-tracking methods aim to cater to this need by allowing researchers to explore response dynamics during cognitive tasks by recording mouse trajectories. Methods A mouse-tracking adaptation of the Simon task is developed to explore decision-making dynamics in different stimulus-response compatibility conditions. The study focuses on the effects of stimulus design decisions on mouse trajectories, including relocation of the choice buttons from the top corners to the bottom and the mid-session reversal of stimulus-response mapping on mouse responses. Results Consistent with previous studies, significant stimulus-response compatibility effects were observed, where contrasts over mouse-tracking measures had larger effect sizes than simple reaction time contrasts. Moreover, in the conflict trials, asymmetric response trajectories towards the left and right corners were observed. Moving the response buttons from top to bottom increased the degree of asymmetry between the mouse trajectories towards the bottom-left and bottom-right corners during the conflict condition. Finally, in the reverse Simon task, the switch to a new color-response mapping inflicted the largest effect on the average number of y-flips. Conclusion Mouse tracking provides measures suitable for exploring decision-making dynamics beyond classical reaction time analysis, provided asymmetries due to the starting position and response layout are considered during experiment design.

Academic Journal of Thailand National Sports University, 13, 2, 8-17

In the current review, we argue that experimental results usually interpreted as evidence for cognitive resource limitations could also reflect functional necessities of human information processing. First, we point out that selective processing of only specific features, objects, or locations at each moment in time allows humans to monitor the success and failure of their own overt actions and covert cognitive procedures. We then proceed to show how certain instances of selectivity are at odds with commonly assumed resource limitations. Next, we discuss examples of seemingly automatic, resource-free processing that challenge the resource view but can be easily understood from the functional perspective of monitoring cognitive procedures. Finally, we suggest that neurophysiological data supporting resource limitations might actually reflect mechanisms of how procedural control is implemented in the brain.

The Simon effect refers to the fact that, even though stimulus position is task-irrelevant, responses to a task-relevant stimulus dimension are faster and more accurate when the stimulus and response spatially correspond than when they do not. Although the Simon effect is a very robust phenomenon, it is modulated by practice or transfer from previous tasks. Practice refers to the modulation of the Simon effect as a function of number of trials. Transfer refers to the modulation of the Simon effect as a function of preceding tasks. The aim of the present study is to disentangle the role of practice and transfer in modulating the Simon effect and to investigate whether such modulation can be extended to a different response modality. Three experiments were conducted, which included three sessions: the Baseline session, the Inducer session and the Diagnostic session. The task performed in the Baseline and the Diagnostic sessions were comprised of location-irrelevant trials (i.e., they were Simon tasks). The task performed in the Inducer session required performing location-relevant trials (i.e., it was a spatial compatibility task with a compatible or an incompatible stimulus–response mapping). In the first and third experiments, participants were required to respond manually in all sessions. In the second experiment, the task performed in the Inducer session required manual response, while in the Baseline and Diagnostic sessions the tasks required ocular response. Results showed a reduced-Diagnostic Simon effect after both compatible and incompatible mapping in the Inducer session, regardless of whether response modality was the same or different. These results support the notion that the practice effect prevails over the transfer effect.

It is thought that just as hunger itself, the expectancy to eat impacts attention and cognitive control toward food stimuli, but this theory has not been extensively explored at a behavioral level. In order to study the effect of expectancy to eat on attentional and cognitive control mechanisms, 63 healthy fasting participants were presented with an affective priming spatial compatibility Simon task that included both food and object (non-food) distracters. The participants (N = 63) were randomly assigned to two groups: an “immediate expectancy” group made up of participants who expected to eat immediately after the task (N = 31; females = 21; age = 26.8 ± 9.6) and a “delayed expectancy” cohort made up of individuals who expected to eat a few hours later (N = 32; females = 21; age = 25.0 ± 8.0). Slower reaction times (RTs) toward the food and non-food distracters and a more pronounced effect on the RTs in the incompatible condition [i.e., the Simon effect (SE)] were noted in both groups. The effect of the food and non-food distracters on the RTs was more pronounced in the immediate with respect to the delayed expectancy group. The magnitude of the SE for the food and the non-food distracters was also greater in the immediate with respect to the delayed expectancy group. These results seem to indicate that when the expectancy to eat is short, the RTs are delayed, and the SE is more pronounced when food and non-food distracters are presented. Instead, when the expectancy to eat is more distant, the distracters have less of an effect on the RTs and the correspondence effect is smaller. Our results suggest that the expectancy to eat can modulate both attention orienting and cognitive control mechanisms in healthy fasting individuals when distracting details are competing with information processing during goal directed behavior.

Introduction: Despite their popularity in Neuropsychology, reaction time analysis based on the subtraction and additive factors methods is critiqued for not paying adequate attention to the dynamical nature of cognition. Mouse-tracking methods aim to cater to this need by allowing researchers to explore response dynamics during cognitive tasks by recording mouse trajectories. Methods: A mouse-tracking adaptation of the Simon task is developed to explore decision-making dynamics in different stimulus-response compatibility conditions. The study focuses on the effects of stimulus design decisions on mouse trajectories, including relocation of the choice buttons from the top corners to the bottom and the mid-session reversal of stimulus-response mapping on mouse responses. Results: Consistent with previous studies, significant stimulus-response compatibility effects were observed, where contrasts over mouse-tracking measures had larger effect sizes than simple reaction time contrasts. Moreover, in the conflict trials, asymmetric response trajectories towards the left and right corners were observed. Moving the response buttons from top to bottom increased the degree of asymmetry between the mouse trajectories towards the bottom-left and bottom-right corners during the conflict condition. Finally, in the reverse Simon task, the switch to a new color-response mapping inflicted the largest effect on the average number of y-flips. Conclusion: Mouse tracking provides measures suitable for exploring decision-making dynamics beyond classical reaction time analysis, provided asymmetries due to the starting position and response layout are considered during experiment design.

Visual processing near the hands is altered compared with stimuli far from the hands. Here, we aimed to test whether this alteration can be found in auditory processing. Participants were required to perform an auditory Simon task either with their hands close to the loudspeakers or far from the loudspeakers. Two experiments consistently showed that the auditory Simon effect was enhanced when the hands were close to the speakers compared with far from the speakers. This is consistent with previous findings of an enhanced visual Simon effect near the hands. Furthermore, the hand-proximity effects in auditory and visual Simon tasks (an enhanced Simon effect near hands compared with far from hands) were comparable, indicating hand-proximity effect is reliable across visual and auditory modalities. Thus, the present study extended the hand-proximity effect from vision to audition by showing that the auditory Simon effect was enhanced near the hands compared with far from the hands.

This study aimed to apply electromyographic techniques and distributional analyses to test whether an increase in the strength of stimulus-response mapping could explain the mechanisms underlying the joint Simon effect. Within a single protocol, participants performed a Simon task and a Go/NoGo task in isolation, and a joint Go/NoGo task with a co-actor (joint Simon task). Results showed that joint-action impairs cognitive control and shortened reaction time by impacting both pre-motor time and motor time. Joint-action induced a larger facilitation on pre-motor time of ipsilateral than contralateral associations. This potentiation of the spatial correspondence effect plausibly explains the larger Simon-like effect usually observed in the joint Go/NoGo task compared to that observed in the isolated Go/NoGo task. The propensity of making incorrect activations and their concentration among fast responses also increased when working co-actively. Together, these findings indicate that joint-action increases the strength of automatic response capture induced by the stimulus location, promotes the delivery of the stronger association in the behavioral repertoire of the individual, and reduces cognitive control.; This study aimed to apply electromyographic techniques and distributional analyses to test whether an increase in the strength of stimulus-response mapping could explain the mechanisms underlying the joint Simon effect. Within a single protocol, participants performed a Simon task and a Go/NoGo task in isolation, and a joint Go/NoGo task with a co-actor (joint Simon task). Results showed that joint-action impairs cognitive control and shortened reaction time by impacting both pre-motor time and motor time. Joint-action induced a larger facilitation on pre-motor time of ipsilateral than contralateral associations. This potentiation of the spatial correspondence effect plausibly explains the larger Simon-like effect usually observed in the joint Go/NoGo task compared to that observed in the isolated Go/NoGo task. The propensity of making incorrect activations and their concentration among fast responses also increased when working co-actively. Together, these findings indicate that joint-action increases the strength of automatic response capture induced by the stimulus location, promotes the delivery of the stronger association in the behavioral repertoire of the individual, and reduces cognitive control.

Published online: 7 October 2020 For as long as half a century the Simon task – in which participants respond to a nonspatial stimulus feature while ignoring its position – has represented a very popular tool to study a variety of cognitive functions, such as attention, cognitive control, and response preparation processes. In particular, the task generates two theoretically interesting effects: the Simon effect proper and the sequential modulations of this effect. In the present study, we review the main theoretical explanations of both kinds of effects and the available neuroscientific studies that investigated the neural underpinnings of the cognitive processes underlying the Simon effect proper and its sequential modulation using electroencephalogram (EEG) and event-related brain potentials (ERP), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Then, we relate the neurophysiological findings to the main theoretical accounts and evaluate their validity and empirical plausibility, including general implications related to processing interference and cognitive control. Overall, neurophysiological research supports claims that stimulus location triggers the creation of a spatial code, which activates a spatially compatible response that, in incompatible conditions, interferes with the response based on the task instructions. Integration of stimulus-response features plays a major role in the occurrence of the Simon effect (which is manifested in the selection of the response) and its modulation by sequential congruency effects. Additional neural mechanisms are involved in supporting the correct and inhibiting the incorrect response. This research was supported by the Basque Government through the BERC 2018-2021 program and by the Spanish State Research Agency through BCBL Severo Ochoa excellence accreditation SEV-2015-0490 This study was also funded by Juan de la Cierva-Incorporación (Spanish government; JC) and European Commission (Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions 838536_BILINGUALPLAS; JC), by post-doctoral funding of the University of Bremen (DG; ZF 11/876/08), and by an ERC Advanced Grant (BH: ERC-2015-AdG-694722).