University of Twente Student Theses
Inhibitory influences on the Simon effect in a go/no-go task
Portain, Dominic (2009) Inhibitory influences on the Simon effect in a go/no-go task.
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| Abstract: | The Simon effect, discovered by Simon en Rudell (1967), describes faster mean responses in contrast to a comparison condition. It is usually found when stimuli and responses occur on the same spatial side (left or right). An interaction of different spatial codes seems to be responsible for the occurrence of this effect. An analysis of reaction times yielded in a prior study that this interaction is independent from apparent visual stimuli. The formation of the Simon effect through spatial codes can be explained by the dual-route model. According to this mode, two different cognitive pathways are used in the processing of spatial codes. Congruent codes lead to the use of the faster, unconditional pathway, where incongruent codes call for the more complex, slower conditional pathway. This difference in processing speed would cause the apparent difference in reaction times administered by Simon et al. Prior studies indicated that the use of the conditional pathway produces an inhibition effect on future, unconditional, trials. The goal of this study is to search for these serial effects in a go/no-go task layout. In a prior study (van der Lubbe, Abrahamse en de Kleine, in preparation), the Simon effect was being examined by conducting a 50% go/no-go task. The current study aims to replicate the prior experiments as closely as possible. The relation between go- and no-go trials was increased to 80% to allow an analysis of serial effects. Results of this study support prior findings and show that trials had not been influenced by serial effects. A possible explanation for these results states that the task specific early response selection caused a premature solution to the conflict of spatial codes. According to this explanation, use of the conditional route would be prevented by the task layout, along with potential inhibition effects. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Bachelor) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 77 psychology |
| Programme: | Psychology BSc (56604) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/59361 |
| Export this item as: | BibTeX EndNote HTML Citation Reference Manager |
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