Kirkham Alexander J, Tipper Steven P
Department of Psychology, University of York , York YO10 5DD , UK.
Vis cogn. 2015 Sep 14;23(8):1043-1060. doi: 10.1080/13506285.2015.1110653. Epub 2015 Dec 11.
In spatial compatibility tasks, when the spatial location of a stimulus is irrelevant it nevertheless interferes when a response is required in a different spatial location. For example, response with a left key-press is slowed when the stimulus is presented to the right as compared to the left side of a computer screen. However, in some conditions this interference effect is not detected in reaction time (RT) measures. It is typically assumed that the lack of effect means the irrelevant spatial code was not analysed or that the information rapidly decayed before response. However, we show that even in conditions where there appears to be no spatial interference when measuring RTs, effects can nevertheless be detected after response when recording facial electromyography responses. This dissociation between two measures highlights the importance of diverging methods to investigate visuomotor processes as conclusions based on only one measure can be misleading.
在空间兼容性任务中，当刺激的空间位置无关时，然而当需要在不同空间位置做出反应时，它仍会产生干扰。例如，当刺激呈现于电脑屏幕右侧而非左侧时，按左键做出反应的速度会减慢。然而，在某些条件下，这种干扰效应在反应时（RT）测量中未被检测到。通常认为，效应的缺失意味着无关的空间编码未被分析，或者信息在反应前迅速衰减。然而，我们表明，即使在测量RT时似乎没有空间干扰的条件下，在记录面部肌电图反应时，反应后仍可检测到效应。这两种测量方法之间的分离凸显了采用不同方法研究视觉运动过程的重要性，因为仅基于一种测量得出的结论可能会产生误导。
