Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T10:24:06.315Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

On the automaticity of ipsilateral response activation in the Simon effect

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 1998

FERNANDO VALLE-INCLÁN
Affiliation:
University of La Coruña, Elviña, La Coruña, Spain
MILAGROS REDONDO
Affiliation:
University of La Coruña, Elviña, La Coruña, Spain
Get access

Abstract

The effects on performance of unattended stimulus–response spatial relationships in choice reaction time tasks (i.e., the Simon effect) have been attributed to automatic activation of the response ipsilateral to stimulus location. We tested this assumption using the lateralized readiness potential (LRP). The response key labels changed randomly from trial to trial and were presented either 400 ms before (immediate-reaction trials) or 400 ms after (delayed-reaction trials) stimulus. The critical test for the automatic activation hypothesis was on delayed-reaction trials, in which LRP deflections were expected in the interval between stimulus and response-key labels. Contrary to this prediction, there were no LRP signs of response activation within that interval.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1998 Society for Psychophysiological Research

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)