Fabbri Marco, Cellini Nicola, Martoni Monica, Tonetti Lorenzo, Natale Vincenzo
Department of Psychology, Second University of Naples, Viale Ellittico, 31, 81100, Caserta, Italy,
Atten Percept Psychophys. 2013 Nov;75(8):1840-51. doi: 10.3758/s13414-013-0519-9.
It is well established that temporal events are represented on a spatially oriented mental time line from left to right. Depending on the task characteristics, the spatial representation of time may be linked to different types of dimensions, including manual response codes and physical space codes. The aim of the present study was to analyze whether manual response and physical space codes are independent of each other or whether they interact when both types of information are involved in the task. The participants performed a temporal estimation task with two lateralized response buttons in four experiments. In the first experiment, the target stimuli were presented on the left side, at the center, or on the right side of the space, whereas the reference stimuli were always presented centrally. The reverse situation was presented in the second experiment. In the third experiment, both stimuli were presented in opposite spatial positions (e.g., left-right), whereas in the last experiment, both stimuli were presented in the same spatial position (e.g., left-left). In all experiments, perceptual and motor congruency effects were found, but no modulation of the congruency effects was found when both the perceptual and motor components were congruent. The results indicated that physical, spatial, and manual response codes are independent from each other for time-space associations, even when both codes are involved in the task. These results are discussed in terms of the "intermediate-coding" account.
时间事件在从左到右的空间定向心理时间线上得到表征，这一点已得到充分证实。根据任务特征，时间的空间表征可能与不同类型的维度相关联，包括手动反应编码和物理空间编码。本研究的目的是分析当任务涉及这两种信息时，手动反应编码和物理空间编码是相互独立的，还是会相互作用。在四个实验中，参与者使用两个侧向反应按钮执行了时间估计任务。在第一个实验中，目标刺激呈现于空间的左侧、中心或右侧，而参考刺激始终呈现于中心位置。第二个实验呈现的是相反的情况。在第三个实验中，两种刺激呈现于相反的空间位置（例如，左 - 右），而在最后一个实验中，两种刺激呈现于相同的空间位置（例如，左 - 左）。在所有实验中，均发现了知觉和运动一致性效应，但当知觉和运动成分都一致时，未发现一致性效应的调制。结果表明，对于时空关联，物理、空间和手动反应编码相互独立，即使任务中涉及这两种编码。将根据“中间编码”理论对这些结果进行讨论。
