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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
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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

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Footnotes

Address reprint request to: Fernando Valle-Inclán, Departamento de Psicología, Elviña, La Coruña 15071, Spain. E-mail: [email protected].