Mittelstädt Victor, Miller Jeff
University of Tübingen, Germany; University of Otago, New Zealand.
University of Otago, New Zealand.
Cogn Psychol. 2020 Jun;119:101275. doi: 10.1016/j.cogpsych.2020.101275. Epub 2020 Feb 5.
We combined analyses of reaction time (RT) distributions with experimental manipulations of different processing stages (perception, decision, motor execution) in a Simon task to investigate which changes in Simon effects could be explained entirely by fading irrelevant response activation. Consistent with fading activation accounts, the Simon effect on mean RT was usually smaller for conditions with slower responses (Expts. 1-3 but not Expt. 4), and delta plot analyses revealed that it was always smaller for the slower responses within each condition. Critically, however, these analyses also revealed that some experimental manipulations produced upward or downward shifts in the RT delta plots, thus altering the Simon effect on mean RT in ways that could not be explained by fading activation. The results demonstrate the power of combining RT distributional analyses with experimental manipulations to reveal mechanisms contributing to the Simon effect that would not be revealed using only mean RT. We consider alternatives to fading activation accounts of decreasing delta plots and discuss the contribution of different cognitive stages in modulating Simon effects.
我们将反应时间（RT）分布分析与西蒙任务中不同加工阶段（感知、决策、运动执行）的实验操作相结合，以研究西蒙效应的哪些变化可以完全由消退无关反应激活来解释。与消退激活理论一致，对于反应较慢的条件，西蒙效应在平均反应时间上通常较小（实验1 - 3，但实验4并非如此），并且增量图分析表明，在每个条件下，反应较慢时西蒙效应总是较小。然而，关键的是，这些分析还表明，一些实验操作会使反应时间增量图向上或向下移动，从而以无法用消退激活来解释的方式改变了西蒙效应在平均反应时间上的表现。结果表明，将反应时间分布分析与实验操作相结合，能够揭示出仅使用平均反应时间无法揭示的、对西蒙效应有贡献的机制。我们考虑了增量图减小的消退激活理论的替代解释，并讨论了不同认知阶段在调节西蒙效应中的作用。
