Wühr Peter, Heuer Herbert
Technische Universität Dortmund, Germany.
Leibniz-Institut für Arbeitsforschung, Germany.
Acta Psychol (Amst). 2015 Nov;162:13-9. doi: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2015.09.012. Epub 2015 Oct 2.
The present study explored how response preparation, varied by relative response frequency, affects response conflict as expressed in the Simon effect. Previous studies showed that valid response cues, when presented before the imperative stimulus, increase rather than decrease the Simon effect. This finding was explained by the hypothesis that response cues trigger shifts of attention to the side of the prepared response, and that these attention shifts modulate processing of the imperative stimulus. We investigated whether cues are necessary for inducing shifts of attention and thereby modulating the Simon effect, or whether response preparation without cues is sufficient. In two experiments, participants performed a Simon task with one response being more frequent than the other. Results showed larger Simon effects for the more frequent (i.e. prepared) response than for the less frequent (i.e. unprepared) response. These results suggest that response preparation (rather than the cue that induces the preparation) triggers a shift of spatial attention which modulates the Simon effect.
本研究探讨了由相对反应频率所改变的反应准备如何影响以西蒙效应所体现的反应冲突。先前的研究表明，当有效反应线索在指令性刺激之前呈现时，会增强而非减弱西蒙效应。这一发现可通过以下假设来解释：反应线索会引发注意力转向准备好的反应一侧，并且这些注意力转移会调节指令性刺激的加工过程。我们研究了线索对于引发注意力转移从而调节西蒙效应是否必要，或者无线索的反应准备是否就足够了。在两个实验中，参与者执行了一项西蒙任务，其中一种反应比另一种反应更频繁。结果显示，较频繁（即准备好的）反应的西蒙效应比较不频繁（即未准备好的）反应更大。这些结果表明，反应准备（而非引发准备的线索）会触发空间注意力的转移，从而调节西蒙效应。
