Stimulus-response Compatibility Effects Research Articles

A Role for Set in the Control of Automatic Spatial Response Activation

Spatial stimulus-response (S-R) compatibility effects are widely assumed to reflect the automatic activation of a spatial response by the spatial attributes of a stimulus. The experiments reported here investigate the role of the participant's set in enabling or interacting with this putatively automatic spatial response activation. Participants performed a color discrimination task (Experiment 1) or a localization task (Experiment 2). In each experiment, two different S-R mappings were used and a task-cue indicated the appropriate mapping on each trial. S-R compatibility and the time between the task-cue and target were manipulated, and compatibility effects were assessed as a function of (a) the time between the task-cue and the stimulus, and (b) whether the S-R mapping repeated or switched on consecutive trials. Critically, whether response mappings repeated or switched on consecutive trials determined the relation between compatibility effects and the time between task-cue and stimulus. These results are discussed in terms of an interaction between automatic spatial response activation and the participant's set.

Effects of stimulus–response compatibility in mediating expert performance in baseball players

The purpose of this study was to examine whether the baseball players' shorter Go/Nogo reaction time (RT) was influenced by stimulus–response compatibility (SRC) effects. To accomplish this purpose, we examined RTs and event-related potential components in three Go/Nogo tasks, manipulating stimulus–response relations. The participants were nine college baseball players (Baseball) and nine college non-baseball players (Control). Task conditions were the following: spatial condition with baseball batting-specific S–R mapping (Spatial-BB) demands response execution or inhibition corresponding to spatial stimulus location. This condition was similar to the stimulus–response relations in baseball batting. The other two tasks demand their response based on the stimulus location or colors. These tasks did not have any baseball-specific stimulus–response relations. As a result of RTs, baseball players revealed shorter RTs in Spatial-BB than other tasks, but the control group showed similar RTs among three tasks. In Go trials, as for the interval between stimulus and lateralized readiness potential (LRP) onset which is the duration to the end of response selection, baseball players had shorter than control in Spatial-BB, whereas P300 latency and the interval between LRP and response did not show any difference between groups or among tasks. In Nogo trials, the augmented P300 amplitude of baseball players at frontal (Fz) was observed in Spatial-BB. The P300 amplitude in Nogo trials is often interpreted as the strength of inhibition. These results indicated that the facilitation of RTs in baseball players is likely due to a faster response selection and stronger inhibition caused by SRC effects in relation to specific S–R mapping.

Auditory stimulus-response compatibility and control-display design

This study investigated spatial stimulus-response (S-R) compatibility effects for auditory signals, in order to suggest interface design recommendations. The auditory signals were presented in transverse and longitudinal orientations relative to the listener. The results showed that stimulus-response correspondence was the prime factor contributing to spatial compatibility and that there were spatial compatibility effects for both orientations. Relatively longer reaction times (RTs) and higher error percentages (EPs) were found for the longitudinal orientation than for the transverse one. The results suggest that the longitudinal orientation should not be used for getting attention and soliciting responses when using auditory signals. Transverse orientation signals produced quicker and more accurate responses. For faster reaction times, auditory signals should be positioned on the right hand side of right-handed operators. The length of warning time interval between an alerting visual message and the presentation of an auditory signal was shown to affect reaction time in the transverse stimulus orientation. To shorten reaction times, people should be given a greater than 1-s, and preferably a 3-s, forewarning period before being asked to make a response. For both orientations, reaction times varied with assigned hand posture, indicating that the layout of response keys on, for example, a control console should be compatible with the hand posture of the operators. Uncrossed hand posture should be assigned in the transverse orientation and the right and left hands should be used for the rear and front keys, respectively, in the longitudinal orientation. This study showed that in man–machine interface design, in addition to spatial S-R compatibility, hand position and an appropriate warning time should also be considered.

Preparation for horizontal or vertical dimensions affects the right-left prevalence effect

When stimulus and response simultaneously vary in both horizontal and vertical dimensions, the stimulus-response compatibility effect is often larger for the horizontal dimension. We investigated the role of preparation for each dimension in this right-left prevalence. In Experiment 1, tasks based on horizontal and vertical dimensions were mixed in random order, and the relevant dimension in each trial was cued with a variable cue-target stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA). A right-left prevalence effect was observed only when participants prepared for the upcoming task. Experiment 2 replicated the absence of the prevalence effect for the simultaneous presentation of cue and target using a fixed SOA of 0 msec. In Experiment 3, the right-left prevalence emerged with a 0-msec SOA when participants prepared for e achdimension basedon its frequency. These resultssuggest that participants' internal set can be greater for the horizontal dimension, leading to the right-left prevalence effect.

A computational model of action resonance and its modulation by emotional stimulation

Recent research has shown that stimulus–response compatibility (SRC) effects can be modulated by the emotional state of the participant and, more specifically, that the SRC effect is larger when aversive emotional stimulation precedes the seen movement [Rumiati, R. I. & Grecucci, A. (submitted for publication). On the emotional modulation of action]. In the present study, we propose that this effect arises from four assumptions: First, that the cortical representations subserving observation and execution of the same actions overlap and resonate; second, that graded persistence of activation due to observed movement facilitates subsequent movement execution; third, that movement representations that are similar but different compete for activation; and fourth, that aversive emotional states enhance the processing of events. By means of a set of simulations, we demonstrate that each of these assumptions plays a critical role in capturing the compatibility effect and its emotional modulation. We further employ the model to clarify the debate between synergistic and competitive views of cognition/emotion interactions, and demonstrate how emotionally-driven stimulus–response compatibility effects may be modulated by task demands, thus offering a possible resolution to the long-standing debate between synergistic and competitive interactions between emotion and cognition.

Methodological problems undermine tests of the ideo-motor conjecture

Recent behavioural research has investigated whether viewing someone perform an action results in activation of that action by the observer. Postulated empirical support for this 'ideo-motor (IM) conjecture' typically rests upon two types of experimental paradigm (reaction time and movement tracking tasks). These paradigms purport to show movement facilitation when compatible movements are observed and vice versa, but only for biological stimuli. Unfortunately, these paradigms often contain confounding (and unavoidable) generic stimulus-response compatibility effects that are not restricted to observed human movement. The current study demonstrates in three experiments that equivalent compatibility effects can be produced by non-biological stimuli. These results suggest that existing empirical paradigms may not, and perhaps cannot, support the IM-conjecture.

Compatibility Effects in Stopping and Response Initiation in a Continuous Tracking Task

Two experiments explored stopping performance using a new stimulus-response compatibility effect spanning action initiation and stopping. Participants tracked a sometimes-moving, sometimes-stationary target by controlling the speed of a response marker via a force sensor. In the compatible condition, participants pressed the sensor in response to the target moving and stopped pressing in response to the target stopping. In the incompatible condition, participants stopped pressing in response to the target moving and initiated pressing in response to the target stopping. Response initiation and stopping were found to be faster under compatible than under incompatible conditions, regardless of whether compatible and incompatible trials were blocked or mixed. These findings indicate that stopping, like response initiation, is influenced by stimulus-response properties such as compatibility. This in turn suggests that stopping is governed by constraints similar to those of other behaviours.

A choice reaction-time task in the rat: A new model using air-puff stimuli and lever-release responses

We have developed a two-lever choice reaction-time (RT) task to investigate the behavioral and neural mechanisms of stimulus–response compatibility in rats. In the task, the rat pressed two levers with its forepaws during the preparation period of each trial, and then quickly responded to an air-puff stimulus on its left or right forepaw by releasing the lever on the same side (compatible condition) or the opposite side (incompatible condition) of the stimulus. Twenty rats successfully learned the task in both the compatible and incompatible conditions. Two stimulus–response compatibility effects were observed: the RT was shorter and the error rate was lower in the compatible condition than in the incompatible condition. The trial sequence also affected the results and a speed-accuracy tradeoff was observed. These results are consistent with those reported for human RT tasks. Furthermore, a lesion in the forepaw-sensorimotor cortex caused increases in the RTs for stimulus detection and/or response movement with the contralateral forepaw, suggesting that the task was mediated by this brain area. We conclude that this instrumental task for rats can be regarded as a model for human RT tasks and can be used to investigate the neural basis of the compatibility effects.

Orthogonal Stimulus–Response Compatibility Effects Emerge Even when the Stimulus Position is Task Irrelevant

The above-right/below-left mapping advantage with vertical stimuli and horizontal responses is known as the orthogonal stimulus-response compatibility (SRC) effect. We investigated whether the orthogonal SRC effect emerges with irrelevant stimulus dimensions. In Experiment 1, participants responded with a right or left key press to the colour of the stimulus presented above or below the fixation. We observed an above-right/below-left advantage (orthogonal Simon effect). In Experiment 2, we manipulated the polarity in the response dimension by varying the horizontal location of the response set. The orthogonal Simon effect decreased and even reversed as the left response code became more positive. This result provides evidence for the automatic activation of the positive and negative response codes by the corresponding positive and negative stimulus codes. These findings extended the orthogonal SRC effect based on coding asymmetry to an irrelevant stimulus dimension.

Effects of stimulus-response compatibility in Parkinson’s disease: a psychophysiological analysis

The present study investigated the mechanisms underlying stimulus-response compatibility effects in Parkinson's disease patients and matched controls. Since basal ganglia are involved in the selection and inhibition of competing responses we examined whether basal ganglia dysfunction in Parkinson's disease leads to greater interference effects compared to the control subjects. Reaction times and lateralized movement-related cortical potentials (lateralized readiness potential: LRP) were recorded in two modified Eriksen flanker tasks. Both groups were influenced by compatibility conditions; interference was seen as enhanced reaction time and error rate, as well as incorrect early LRP and delayed late LRP in incongruent trials. Altogether, behavioral and electrophysiological measures showed the interference to be rather smaller for the patients than for the controls. In contrast, facilitation did not differ among groups. Hence the claim that Parkinson's disease patients are more influenced than controls by interfering directional stimuli appears not always valid.

Stimulus-response compatibility with pure and mixed mappings in a flight task environment.

The present study examined the stimulus-response compatibility (SRC) effect in a simulated flight environment. Experiments 1 and 2 tested the effect with pure and mixed mappings in flight tasks by using attitude displays with inside-out and outside-in formats, whereas Experiments 3 and 4 used a simplified display and tasks. The SRC effect was obtained with mixed mappings when responses were turns of a flight yoke (Experiments 1-3). In contrast, the SRC effect was absent with mixed mappings when they were buttonpresses (Experiment 4). Analyses of sequential effects suggest that the reduction in Experiments 1-3 can be attributed to reduction in the frequency of trials for which the congruent mapping repeats, but the elimination in Experiment 4 cannot be. Implications of the findings are discussed in the context of aviation cockpit design.

Exogenous and endogenous response priming with auditory stimuli

Exogenous and endogenous response priming were investigated by comparing performance on stimulus-response compatibility (SRC) and re- sponse-effect compatibility (REC) tasks using a repeated measures design. In the SRC task, par- ticipants made finger taps at high or low locations in response to centrally presented visual stimuli paired with high- or low-pitched tones. In the REC task, the tones were triggered by responses instead of being presented with the visual stim- uli, and hence effects of REC on response times reflect the anticipation of forthcoming tones. Re- sults indicated that response times were shorter with compatible mappings between tones and responses than with incompatible mappings in both tasks. Although these SRC and REC effects did not differ reliably in magnitude, they were uncorrelated across participants. Thus, although exogenous and endogenous response priming may be functionally equivalent at the level of the group, it is unclear whether this is the case at the level of the individual.

The potentiation of two components of the reach-to-grasp action during object categorisation in visual memory

Stimulus-Response Compatibility Effects have been reported for several components of the reach-to-grasp action during visual object recognition [Tucker, M., & Ellis, R. (1998). On the relations between seen objects and components of potential actions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 24, 830–846; Ellis, R., & Tucker, M. (2000). Micro-affordance: The potentiation of actions by seen objects. British Journal of Psychology, 91, 451–471; Tucker, M., & Ellis, R. (2001). The potentiation of grasp types during visual object categorization. Visual Cognition, 8, 769–800; Creem, S. H., & Proffitt, D. R. (2001). Grasping objects by their handles: A necessary interaction between cognition and action. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 27, 218–228; Craighero, L. Bello, A. Fadiga, L., & Rizzolatti, G. (2002). Hand action preparation influences the responses to hand pictures. Neuropsychologia, 40, 492–502]. The present study investigates compatibility effects for two elements of reach-to-grasp action during the visual mental imagery of objects—the compatibility of an object for grasping with a power and precision grasp, and the orientation of an object (left/right) for grasping by a particular hand (left/right). Experiment 1 provides further evidence for compatibility effects of a ‘seen’ object for grasping with a power and precision grasp. The experiment shows that compatibility effects are obtainable when an object is presented in an array of four objects and not just on its own. Experiment 2 provides evidence that compatibility effects of an object for grasping with a power and precision grasp can also be observed when participants make an action response to an object 700ms after it has been removed from view. Experiment 3 investigates compatibility effects for the orientation of an object for grasping by a particular hand during visual mental imagery, but finds no evidence for such effects. The findings are discussed in relation to two arguments put forward to reconcile ecological and representational theories of visual object recognition.

Stimulus–Response Compatibility and Response Preparation: Effects on Motor Component of Information Processing for Upper and Lower Limb Responses

The effects of stimulus-response compatibility and response preparation on the motor component of the information processing system were investigated by analyzing the fractionated reaction time for the upper and lower limbs. The reaction time was divided into two periods with respect to the onset of electromyographic activity, premotor and motor times. The response preparation was manipulated by the probability that the locations of the precue and subsequent imperative stimulus corresponded. On a stimulus-response compatible task, subjects were required to release a key on the same side as an imperative stimulus, irrespective of the precued side. On an incompatible task, subjects were required to act in the reverse manner. The upper and lower limb responses were measured during both tasks. A repeated-measures design was used with 12 male university students. Analysis of the reaction and premotor times indicated that the stimulus-response compatibility effect became larger as response preparation decreased. The analysis of motor time yielded significant interactions between stimulus-response compatibility and limb and between response preparation and limb. These findings indicated that the motor component of information processing for the lower limb response is affected by both stimulus-response compatibility and response preparation.

The Mental Space of Pitch Heighta

Through stimulus-response compatibility we tested whether sound frequency (pitch height) elicits a mental spatial representation. Musically untrained and, mostly, trained participants were shown a stimulus-response compatibility effect (Spatial-Musical Association of Response Codes or SMARC effect). When response alternatives were either vertically or horizontally aligned, performance was better when the lower (or leftward) button had to be pressed in response to a low sound and the upper (or rightward) button had to be pressed in response to a high sound, even when pitch height was irrelevant to the task.

Dissociating object-based and space-based affordances

In what we term the orientation effect, faster spatial responses are made to the corresponding task irrelevant orientation of an object. We ask how this effect relates to object affordances, how attention may be involved, and how the effect relates to the better understood Simon effect. Two separate stimulus-response compatibility effects (an orientation effect and a Simon effect) were observed when spatial responses were made to photographs of objects whose orientation and location had been simultaneously manipulated. When attentional demands were high these separate effects were found using hand responses and foot responses, suggesting an abstract rather than specific coding of object affordances. However, when attentional demands were low only the Simon effect was observed, suggesting that, in order to obtain the orientation effect, objects must be represented at the level of an object.

Automatic and imperative motor activations in stimulus–response compatibility: magnetoencephalographic analysis of upper and lower limbs

The stimulus-response (S-R) compatibility effect refers to the difference in performance due to the spatial S-R relationship in choice reaction time. We investigated the mechanism of neural activities in S-R compatibility at the level of the primary motor cortices for upper and lower limbs responses using magnetoencephalography (MEG). In the S-R compatible task, subjects were required to respond on the same side of the stimulus light using either an upper or lower limb. In the incompatible task, subjects were required to respond in the reverse manner. Premotor times of upper and lower limbs were faster for the compatible response than for the incompatible response. The neuromagnetic brain activities related to response execution were estimated using a multi-dipole model. Stimulus-locked MEG indicated that the current moments of motor dipoles for both effectors occurred bilaterally and reached the first peak at a constant delay irrespective of whether the task was compatible or incompatible. This indicates that the neural activation of the primary motor cortex is automatically synchronized with the stimulus onset. Response-locked MEG showed that the peak current moment of the motor dipole contralateral to the response was stronger for the compatible task than for the incompatible one regardless of whether the responses were made using the upper or lower limbs. The MEG results suggest that automatic motor activation facilitates imperative motor activation for a compatible response, whereas it is not sufficient to prime imperative motor activation for an incompatible response.

Representing Response Position Relative to Display Location: Influence on Orthogonal Stimulus–Response Compatibility

Two types of stimulus-response compatibility (SRC) effect occur with orthogonal stimulus and response sets, an overall up-right/down-left advantage and mapping preferences that vary with response position. Researchers agree that the former type is due to asymmetric coding of the stimulus and response alternatives, but disagree as to whether the latter type requires a different explanation in terms of the properties of the motor system. This issue is examined in three experiments. The location of the stimulus set influenced orthogonal SRC when it varied along the same dimension as the responses (Experiments 1 and 2), with the pattern predicted by the hypothesis that the stimulus set provides a referent relative to which response position is coded. The effect of stimulus-set location on orthogonal SRC was independent of the stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) for a marker that indicated stimulus-set side and the imperative stimulus. In contrast, a spatial correspondence effect for the irrelevant stimulus-set location and response was a decreasing function of SOA. Experiment 3 showed that the orthogonal SRC effect was determined by response position relative to the stimulus-set location and not the body midline. The results support the view that both types of orthogonal SRC effects are due to asymmetric coding of the stimuli and responses.

Compatibility effects based on stimulus and response numerosity

Four choice reaction time experiments documented a stimulus-response (S-R) compatibility effect involving the numbers of stimuli and responses. In Experiment 1, the stimulus consisted of one or two tones, and the correct response was either one or two taps of a response key. Responses were much faster with a compatible S-R assignment, in which the number of taps matched the number of tones, than with an incompatible assignment in which these numbers mismatched. Experiments 2 and 3 replicated this effect, using visual stimuli and bimodal stimuli, respectively, suggesting that auditory/manual rhythmic compatibility is not essential to it. Experiment 4 showed that an analogous but smaller effect is obtained when stimuli are the digits 1 and 2. This new numerosity-based compatibility effect has general theoretical implications regarding the mechanisms responsible for compatibility effects and practical implications for interface design.

Spatial S–R compatibility of visual and auditory signals: implications for human–machine interface design

This study investigated spatial stimulus–response (S–R) compatibility for visual and auditory signals presented on longitudinally and transversely oriented axes. The objective was to establish data in order to make ergonomics recommendations for multi-sensory interface design in control consoles. The results showed strong stimulus–response compatibility effects. Relatively faster reaction times (RTs) and lower error percentages (EPs) were found for the compatible S–R conditions than for the incompatible conditions. Other than the main S–R compatibility effect, a stimulus–hand (S–H) compatibility effect was also found when there was no clear stimulus–response compatibility. Responses made to visual signals were faster than those to auditory signal, suggesting that the processing of visual signals dominated processing of auditory ones. Response speed increased and accuracy decreased with the adoption of crossed hand posture. Response speed decreased with the length of the warning time interval. The findings in this experiment were translated into practical ergonomics recommendations for signal–response layout, stimulus–hand layout, hand condition, warning time interval, and methods of presenting visual and auditory signals. These recommendations were made with a view to improving control console design in order to enhance operator and overall system performance.