Location specificity in response selection processes for visual stimuli

Abstract

We used the psychological refractory period paradigm, in which participants respond to two successive tasks (T1 and T2). We created in T2 spatial and color Simon effects, known to be caused by response selection processes. Previous studies in which the spatial Simon effect was manipulated in T2 showed that this effect was underadditive, with stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) between the targets for T1 and T2. In Experiment 1, we replicated these results with two versions of the spatial Simon effect. In contrast, in Experiment 2 we manipulated two versions of a color Simon effect, revealing an additive relation between the color Simon effect and SOA. These results suggest that the underadditivity obtained with the spatial Simon effect is due to its spatial nature, and that space may play a unique role in response selection processes. Copyright 2005 Psychonomic Society, Inc.