Abstract
Sequential modulations of conflict effects, like the reduction of the Simon effect after incompatible trials, have been taken to reflect the operation of a proactive control mechanism commonly called conflict monitoring. However, such modulations are often contaminated by episodic effects like priming and stimulus-response feature integration. It has previously been observed that if the episodic representation of a conflicting trial is altered by rotating the stimulus framing 180∘ around its axis, the subsequent “conflict adaptation” pattern is eliminated. In Experiment 1, we replicate the findings and provide the basic episodic interpretation. In Experiment 2, we extend the framework to include rotations of 90∘, and verify that the episodic effects generalize to scenarios of neutral compatibility. Finally, in Experiment 3, we add complete, 360∘ rotations, and show that the episodic manipulation by itself does not eliminate the conflict adaptation patterns – as long as conditions favor episodic retrieval. The experiments are argued to demonstrate that an episodic account of the conflict adaptation effect can most parsimoniously account for the behavioral effects without relying on higher order cognition. Accordingly, we conclude that conflict adaptation can be understood either as critically depending on episodic retrieval, or alternatively reflecting only episodic retrieval itself.
Highlights
The time it takes to act is strongly affected by the compatibility between the stimulus and response (Fitts and Seeger, 1953). Simon and Rudell (1967), for example, showed that processing the location of a stimulus automatically triggers a response toward the source of the stimulus, resulting in frequent errors and increased reaction latencies if a stimulus appears in a location opposite to the response
We replicated the earlier finding that the Simon effect is larger after compatible than after incompatible trials (Stürmer et al, 2002)
This account would predict less or no Simon effect after incompatible trials: after encountering an incompatible trial, the automatic location-to-response route becomes to some extent tagged as uninformative
Summary
The time it takes to act is strongly affected by the compatibility between the stimulus and response (Fitts and Seeger, 1953). Simon and Rudell (1967), for example, showed that processing the location of a stimulus automatically triggers a response toward the source of the stimulus, resulting in frequent errors and increased reaction latencies if a stimulus appears in a location opposite to the response. Simon and Rudell (1967), for example, showed that processing the location of a stimulus automatically triggers a response toward the source of the stimulus, resulting in frequent errors and increased reaction latencies if a stimulus appears in a location opposite to the response. This effect later became known as the Simon effect (coined by Hedge and Marsh, 1975), and is one of the more popular effects amongst the range of stimulus-response compatibility phenomena (see for an overview Alluisi and Warm, 1990). Either approach assumes that the cognitive system continuously monitors for conflict and enhances control upon detection
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