Stimulus-response Compatibility Task Research Articles

Automatic avoidance tendencies for alcohol cues predict drinking after detoxification treatment in alcohol dependence.

Alcohol dependence is characterized by conflict between approach and avoidance motivational orientations for alcohol that operate in automatic and controlled processes. This article describes the first study to investigate the predictive validity of these motivational orientations for relapse to drinking after discharge from alcohol detoxification treatment in alcohol-dependent patients. One hundred twenty alcohol-dependent patients who were nearing the end of inpatient detoxification treatment completed measures of self-reported (Approach and Avoidance of Alcohol Questionnaire; AAAQ) and automatic (modified Stimulus-Response Compatibility task) approach and avoidance motivational orientations for alcohol. Their drinking behavior was assessed via telephone follow-ups at 2, 4, and 6 months after discharge from treatment. Results indicated that, after controlling for the severity of alcohol dependence, strong automatic avoidance tendencies for alcohol cues were predictive of higher percentage of heavy drinking days (PHDD) at 4-month (β = 0.22, 95% CI [0.07, 0.43]) and 6-month (β = 0.22, 95% CI [0.01, 0.42]) follow-ups. We failed to replicate previous demonstrations of the predictive validity of approach subscales of the AAAQ for relapse to drinking, and there were no significant predictors of PHDD at 2-month follow-up. In conclusion, strong automatic avoidance tendencies predicted relapse to drinking after inpatient detoxification treatment, but automatic approach tendencies and self-reported approach and avoidance tendencies were not predictive in this study. Our results extend previous findings and help to resolve ambiguities with earlier studies that investigated the roles of automatic and controlled cognitive processes in recovery from alcohol dependence.

異なる競合が併存する事態における視覚情報選択の調整

The proportion congruency (PC) effect is a congruency effect that decreases as the ratio of congruent to incongruent trials within a given block increases. Researchers have been interested in the transference from a set of congruent to incongruent trials, with different ratios to a set of congruent and incongruent trials with equal ratios (diagnostic task). This present study investigated whether the PC effect is transferred across tasks with a coexisting Stimulus-Response conflict (Simon task) and Stimulus-Stimulus conflict (spatial-Stroop task) in a Stimulus-Response compatibility task. Right-handed students (N = 16) were required to identify the direction of an up/down arrow presented in four possible locations (right/up, right/down, left/up and left/down). We observed the transference from two perspectives, i.e., the Simon and spatial-Stroop views. The results indicated that the PC effect was not transferred across different types of conflicts. Therefore, these results suggest that attentional control in the Simon and spatial-Stroop tasks is independent and has a simultaneous effect.

Attentional retraining and cognitive biases in a regular cannabis smoking student population

Abstract. Aim Repeated drug use can lead to attentional bias and approach tendencies, which are thought to play an important role in problematic substance use and dependence. The aims of the current study were to 1) test an attentional retraining procedure in a sample of moderate and heavy cannabis using students and 2) compare baseline attentional and approach bias between the two groups with different implicit measures. Design and participants Attentional bias scores toward cannabis-related or neutral stimuli were determined with modified versions of the Visual Probe Task and the cannabis Stroop task. Approach and avoidance action tendencies toward cannabis-related and neutral stimuli were assessed with the cannabis Approach-Avoidance Task (AAT) and the Stimulus Response Compatibility task (SRC). Seventeen participants were assigned randomly to five sessions of an attentional retraining procedure or control training. Results Attentional retraining did not decrease the speeded detection of cannabis stimuli and the difficulty to disengage from those stimuli, no trainingseffects were revealed. Moderate cannabis users did not show an attentional bias for cannabis-related cues (measured with the cannabis Stroop task), whereas heavy cannabis users did show an attentional bias for cannabis-related stimuli that cannot be attributed to cognitive control deficits on the classical Stroop task. Moreover, heavy cannabis users, but not moderate users, were significant faster to approach cannabis images compared to neutral images, using the SRC task. Conclusion Seen the observed difference in cognitive biases towards cannabis stimuli between moderate and heavy cannabis users, this study supports the allegation that cognitive biases towards cannabis stimuli may be an important marker of problematic cannabis use.

Is there any Influence of Variations in Context on Object-Affordance Effects in Schizophrenia? Perception of Property and Goals of Action.

The simple perception of an object can potentiate an associated action. This affordance effect depends heavily on the action context in which the object is presented. In recent years, psychologists, psychiatrists, and phenomenologists have agreed that subjects with schizophrenia may not perceive the affordances of people or objects that could lead to a loss of ease in their actions. We examined whether the addition of contextually congruent elements, during the perception of everyday objects, could promote the emergence of object-affordance effects in subjects with schizophrenia and controls. Participants performed two Stimulus–Response-Compatibility tasks in which they were presented with semantic primes related to sense of property (Experiment 1) or goal of action (Experiment 2) prior to viewing each graspable object. Controls responded faster when their response hand and the graspable part of the object were compatibly oriented, but only when the context was congruent with the individual’s needs and goals. When the context operated as a constraint, the affordance-effect was disrupted. These results support the understanding that object-affordance is flexible and not just intrinsic to an object. However, the absence of this object-affordance effect in subjects with schizophrenia suggests the possible impairment of their ability to experience the internal simulation of motor action potentialities. In such case, all activities of daily life would require the involvement of higher cognitive processes rather than lower level sensorimotor processes. The study of schizophrenia requires the consideration of concepts and methods that arise from the theories of embodied and situated cognition.

Hand- and Foot-Controlled Dual-Tracking Task Performance Together with a Discrete Spatial Stimulus-Response Compatibility Task

ABSTRACTA multi-task paradigm involving dual tracking for hand and foot and a discrete choice response task with signals presented in different modalities (visual–visual versus auditory–visual) was used to study the effect of spatial compatibility for various display-control configurations on performance. Delay in multi-task processing was observed when more than one task demanded the same cognitive resources for processing. Compatibility between stimuli and responses for the discrete response task was found to significantly affect the amount of delay in overall multi-task performance. When two fingers of the left hand were used for responses in the spatial compatibility task, there was an absence of salient frame of reference in the horizontal right–left dimension. Compared with the visual–visual signal presentation, the auditory–visual signal presentation resulted in significantly higher hand-tracking errors, response times, and response errors, implying that mixed-modality stimulus presentation for a discrete response task has an adverse effect on multi-task time-sharing, probably due to response conflict and the effects of shifting between visual and auditory modalities across trials. We conclude by providing ergonomics design implications and recommendations for multi-task environments to facilitate human–machine system design and improve overall system performance.

Behavioral and TMS Markers of Action Observation Might Reflect Distinct Neuronal Processes.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) studies have shown that observing an action induces muscle-specific changes in corticospinal excitability. From a signal detection theory standpoint, this pattern can be related to sensitivity, which here would measure the capacity to distinguish between two action observation conditions. In parallel to these TMS studies, action observation has also been linked to behavioral effects such as motor priming and interference. It has been hypothesized that behavioral markers of action observation could be related to TMS markers and thus represent a potentially cost-effective mean of assessing the functioning of the action-perception system. However, very few studies have looked at possible relationships between these two measures. The aim of this study was to investigate if individual differences in sensitivity to action observation could be related to the behavioral motor priming and interference effects produced by action observation. To this end, 14 healthy participants observed index and little finger movements during a TMS task and a stimulus–response compatibility task. Index muscle displayed sensitivity to action observation, and action observation resulted in significant motor priming+interference, while no significant effect was observed for the little finger in both task. Nevertheless, our results indicate that the sensitivity measured in TMS was not related to the behavioral changes measured in the stimulus–response compatibility task. Contrary to a widespread assumption, the current results indicate that individual differences in physiological and behavioral markers of action observation may be unrelated. This could have important impacts on the potential use of behavioral markers in place of more costly physiological markers of action observation in clinical settings.

Cognitive Biases for Social Alcohol-Related Pictures and Alcohol Use in Specific Social Settings: An Event-Level Study.

Alcohol use occurs mainly among friends, in social contexts, and for social reasons. Moreover, cognitive biases, such as attentional and approach biases, have repeatedly been associated with alcohol use. This study aimed to test whether nondependent drinkers display cognitive biases for social alcohol-related (SA) pictures and whether these biases are associated with alcohol use in social drinking contexts. The visual dot probe task and stimulus-response compatibility tasks were used to measure attentional and approach biases for alcohol-related pictures at baseline. Event-level alcohol use was measured using Ecological Momentary Assessments via personal smartphones. One hundred and ninety-two young adults (51.6% men; Mage =20.73) completed the study, resulting in 11,257 assessments conducted on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings for 5 consecutive weeks. While no overall attentional bias for alcohol-related pictures was found, young adults showed an approach bias for both social and nonsocial alcohol-related pictures. Multilevel models revealed no direct association between cognitive biases for alcohol-related pictures and alcohol use. However, higher levels of attentional bias for SA pictures were associated with more drinking when individuals were surrounded by a greater number of friends of opposite gender. Higher levels of an approach bias for SA pictures were associated with more drinking in women surrounded by a greater number of friends of the same gender. In a nondependent sample, cognitive biases for SA pictures could not be associated with drinking directly. However, a cognitive bias for SA pictures moderated the association between alcohol use and number of friends present. As most observed effects were gender and situation specific, replication of these effects is warranted.

EP 83. Neural correlates of age-related changes in cognitive action control

Introduction Healthy aging has been associated with a decrease in cognitive action control, but the underlying neural mechanisms are still elusive. The spatial stimulus-response compatibility (SRC) task captures this aspect of cognitive control, as it requires overcoming predominant but incorrect action tendencies to enable correct responding. Aim To identify brain areas that change their action-control-related activity with age. Methods Using fMRI we measured brain activity in a large sample of adults recruited from the population-based 1000BRAINS study (n = 234; mean age 52.5 years; 130 males) while performing an SRC task. Participants were instructed to give a speeded response to lateralized visual stimuli with the ipsilateral (spatially compatible) or contralateral (spatially incompatible) hand. Effects of incompatibility and age on performance [reaction time (RT) and error rate (ER)] were tested via an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) with compatibility as within-subject factor and age as covariate. Effects on brain activity were also tested via an ANCOVA, additionally including as covariate the behavioral incompatibility effect (ICE; i.e., the difference between mean RT in incompatible and compatible trials). Results RT and ER globally increased under incompatibility, and the increase in RT became larger with advancing age as indicated by a significant interaction effect. Neurally, we observed incompatibility-related activity bilaterally in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), premotor cortex (PMC), intraparietal sulcus (IPS) and adjacent inferior and superior parietal lobule (IPL/SPL), anterior insula, (pre-)supplementary motor area [(pre)SMA] extending into midcingulate cortex (MCC), and cerebellum. Age-related hyper-activity in this network was restricted to bilateral DLPFC and cerebellum. In turn, a significant association with the behavioral ICE was found in the left IPS and SPL. Thus, while older adults showed a stronger recruitment of the cerebellum and DLPFC, high-ICE performers showed a stronger recruitment of the IPS/SPL. Conclusion We here replicated the significant increase of incompatibility costs with age ( Langner et al., 2014 ) in a substantially larger sample. Moreover, our results showing an age-related increase of task-dependent activation within the DLPFC provide an important complement to its previously demonstrated reduced resting-state connectivity. We thus argue that reduced connectivity during rest and increased recruitment during active tasks may represent complementary mechanisms of age-related network changes. In contrast, activity in the left IPS correlates with behavioral incompatibility costs, rather than age, highlighting a critical distinction between these. Our behavioral and neural data jointly corroborate a significant influence of age on cognitive action control, which is neurobiologically differentiable from behavioral performance.

Influence of emotional stimulus valence on inhibitory control in adults with and without ADHD.

Human behavior is influenced both by approach and avoidance automatic reactions to positive and negative stimulus, respectively, but these reactions have not been well studied in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) patients. Moreover, studies employing spatial stimulus-response compatibility tasks in ADHD and healthy control (HC) subjects are scarce and inconclusive. The present study investigated inhibitory control and emotional processing in ADHD adults with a modified stimulus-response compatibility task in which spatial and emotional features of affective stimuli had to be processed together to select the correct response. Manual responses to figures of Favorite and Rival soccer team players were measured, and compatible or incompatible responses were chosen according to the soccer team figure. Eighteen HC participants and sixteen ADHD adults performed the task. We found an ordinary spatial compatibility effect for the Favorite soccer team and a reversed one for the Rival team in the ADHD group but not in the HC group. The effects may be due to stronger approach and withdrawal reactions toward the Favorite soccer team and away from the Rival one, respectively, indicating poor inhibitory control for the ADHD group. These results show that differences between ADHD and HC subjects become prominent when response selection involves both emotional and spatial features of the stimulus.

Effect of depression on response inhibition of patients after traumatic brain injury

Objective To investigate the effect of depression on response inhibition of patients after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Methods Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), Hamilton Depression Rating Scale-17 Items (HAMD-17) and Activities of Daily Living (ADL) were used to assess the severity of trauma, depression and activities of daily living in 104 TBI patients (54 with depression and 50 without depression). Besides, 51 normal controls with matched age, sex and education were enrolled. Stimulus-Response Compatibility (SRC) task was employed to record the reaction time (RT) of response inhibition of the subjects in 3 groups. Results Both HAMD-17 and ADL scores in TBI with depression group were significantly higher than those in TBI without depression group ( P = 0.000, 0.000) and normal control group ( P = 0.000, 0.000). Besides, HAMD-17 and ADL scores in TBI without depression group were significantly higher than those in normal control group ( P = 0.000, 0.000). Compared with normal control group, no matter in compatible or incompatible condition, RT was significantly longer in both TBI groups ( P = 0.000, 0.000). RT was much longer in TBI with depression group than that in TBI without depression group ( P = 0.000). Conclusions Cognitive dysfunction is a common symptom after TBI, which may exist 6 months after injury or even longer. TBI combined with depression could aggravate the impaired cognitive function, so early identification and timely intervention is very important. DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1672-6731.2016.06.004

When do humans spontaneously adopt another's visuospatial perspective?

Perspective-taking is a key component of social interactions. However, there is an ongoing controversy about whether, when and how instances of spontaneous visuospatial perspective-taking occur. The aim of this study was to investigate the underlying factors as well as boundary conditions that characterize the spontaneous adoption of another person's visuospatial perspective (VSP) during social interactions. We used a novel paradigm, in which a participant and a confederate performed a simple stimulus-response (SR) compatibility task sitting at a 90° angle to each other. In this set-up, participants would show a spatial compatibility effect only if they adopted the confederate's VSP. In a series of 5 experiments we found that participants reliably adopted the VSP of the confederate, as long as he was perceived as an intentionally acting agent. Our results therefore show that humans are able to spontaneously adopt the differing VSP of another agent and that there is a tight link between perspective-taking and performing actions together. The results suggest that spontaneous VSP-taking can effectively facilitate and speed up spatial alignment processes accruing from dynamic interactions in multiagent environments.

Assessment of Tobacco-Related Approach and Attentional Biases in Smokers, Cravers, Ex-Smokers, and Non-Smokers.

According to theories of addictive behaviors, approach and attentional biases toward smoking-related cues play a crucial role in tobacco dependence. Several studies have investigated these biases by using various paradigms in different sample types. However, this heterogeneity makes it difficult to compare and evaluate the results. The present study aimed to address this problem, via (i) a structural comparison of different measures of approach-avoidance and a measure of smoking-related attentional biases, and (ii) using within one study different representative samples in the context of tobacco dependence. Three measures of approach-avoidance were employed: an Approach Avoidance Task (AAT), a Stimulus Response Compatibility Task (SRC), and a Single Target Implicit Association Test (ST-IAT). To assess attentional biases, a modified Stroop task including smoking-related words was administered. The study included four groups: n = 58 smokers, n = 57 non-smokers, n = 52 cravers, and n = 54 ex-smokers. We expected to find strong tobacco-related approach biases and attentional biases in smokers and cravers. However, the general pattern of results did not confirm these expectations. Approach responses assessed during the AAT and SRC did not differ between groups. Moreover, the Stroop did not show the expected interference effect. For the ST-IAT, cravers had stronger approach associations toward smoking-related cues, whereas non-smokers showed stronger avoidance associations. However, no such differences in approach-avoidance associations were found in smokers and ex-smokers. To conclude, these data do not provide evidence for a strong role of implicit approach and attentional biases toward smoking-related cues in tobacco dependency.

The Effect of Neuroticism Level on Restrained Eaters’ Self-enhancement and Eating Behavior following Exposure to Thin-ideal Images

본 연구에서는 섭식억제자의 신경증 수준이 이상적으로 마른 신체이미지에 노출된 후의 자기고양효과와 내/외현적 섭식행동에 미치는 영향을 확인하였다. 85명의 여대생을 대상으로 섭식억제 상태(억제, 비억제)와 신경증 수준(고, 저)에 따라 4개 집단으로 분류하여 이상적으로 마른 신체이미지에 노출되기 전후의 정서 및 신체불만족 수준을 측정하였으며, 음식 사진에 대한 자극-반응 일치성 과제를 실시한 후, 실제 초콜릿 섭취량을 통해 섭식행동을 확인하였다. 실험 결과, 신경증 수준이 높은 섭식억제자는 이상적으로 마른 신체이미지를 본 후 다른 집단에 비해 긍정적인 정서가 더 크게 감소하였고, 신경증 수준이 낮은 섭식비억제자를 제외한 모든 집단에서 부정적인 정서가 유의미하게 증가하였다. 이를 통해 이상적으로 마른 신체이미지를 볼 때 신경증 수준이 높은 섭식억제자가 다른 집단보다 부정적인 영향을 더 많이 받는다는 것을 확인할 수 있었다.

The Influence of Emotion Upregulation on the Expectation of Sexual Reward.

Emotion regulation research has shown successful altering of unwanted aversive emotional reactions. Cognitive strategies can also downregulate expectations of reward arising from conditioned stimuli, including sexual stimuli. However, little is known about whether such strategies can also efficiently upregulate expectations of sexual reward arising from conditioned stimuli, and possible gender differences therein. The present study examined whether a cognitive upregulatory strategy could successfully upregulate sexual arousal elicited by sexual reward-conditioned cues in men and women. Men (n = 40) and women (n = 53) participated in a study using a differential conditioning paradigm, with genital vibrostimulation as unconditioned stimulus (US) and sexually relevant pictures as conditional stimuli. Penile circumference and vaginal pulse amplitude were assessed and ratings of US expectancy, affective value, and sexual arousal value were obtained. Also a stimulus response compatibility task was included to assess automatic approach and avoidance tendencies. Evidence was found for emotion upregulation to increase genital arousal response in the acquisition phase in both sexes, and to enhance resistance to extinction of conditioned genital responding in women. In men, the emotion upregulatory strategy resulted in increased conditioned positive affect. The findings support that top-down modulation may indeed influence conditioned sexual responses. This knowledge may have implications for treating disturbances in sexual appetitive responses, such as low sexual arousal and desire.

Effects of walking on bilateral differences in spatial attention control: a cross-over design

BackgroundWalking requires a high attentional cost for balance control and interferes with the control of attention. However, it is unclear whether the performance of visual spatial attention control, which is one of the functions of attention control, is also decreased during walking. In addition, although previous studies have shown right-hemispheric dominance and lower ability of left side visual spatial attention control during sitting, it remains unknown whether walking accentuates bilateral differences in visual spatial attention control. We tested the hypothesis that walking interferes with visual spatial attention control on both sides and accentuates its bilateral differences.MethodsTwenty healthy right-handed subjects (24.3 ± 2.0 years) participated in this study. Subjects performed a random stimulus–response compatibility (SRC) task during both sitting and walking situations. To evaluate the effects of walking, reaction time was measured on both sides for the two situations. In comparison to the both situations (sitting and walking), the amount of change of the SRC effect on both sides was used. In the comparing the bilateral difference (left and right), the difference of the SRC effect was evaluated in each situation. The paired t-test was applied to both comparisons for statistical analysis.ResultsThe SRC effect on both sides during walking was significantly larger than during sitting (P < 0.05). In addition, walking significantly accentuated the bilateral differences in visual spatial attention control (P < 0.05).ConclusionsThese results suggest that walking affects the performance of visual spatial attention control on both sides and accentuates its bilateral differences. These results have implications for development of practice methods of gait disorder with higher brain dysfunction.

Priming of conflicting motivational orientations in heavy drinkers: robust effects on self-report but not implicit measures.

We report results from three experimental studies that investigated the independence of approach and avoidance motivational orientations for alcohol, both of which operate within controlled and automatic cognitive processes. In order to prime their approach or avoidance motivational orientations, participants watched brief videos, the content of which (positive or negative depictions of alcohol, or neutral) varied by experimental group. Immediately after watching the videos, participants completed self-report (Approach and Avoidance of Alcohol Questionnaire; all studies) and implicit (visual probe task in study 1, stimulus-response compatibility task in studies 2 and 3) measures of alcohol-related approach and avoidance. In study 3, we incorporated an additional experimental manipulation of thought suppression in an attempt to maximize the influence of the videos on implicit measures. Findings were consistent across all three studies: increases in self-reported approach inclinations were mirrored by decreases in avoidance inclinations, and vice versa. However, a combined analysis of data from all studies demonstrated that changes in approach inclinations were partially independent of changes in avoidance inclinations. There were no effects on implicit alcohol-related processing biases, although methodological issues may partially account for these findings. Our findings demonstrate that subjective approach and avoidance inclinations for alcohol tend to fluctuate in parallel, but changes in approach inclinations may be partially independent from changes in avoidance inclinations. We discuss methodological issues that may partially account for our findings.

Attentional Bias and Approach/Avoidance Tendencies Do Not Predict Relapse or Time to Relapse in Alcohol Dependency.

Implicit processes such as attentional bias (AB) and automatic approach/avoidance tendencies (AA) play a role in substance use disorders. Whether these processes can predict a relapse in alcohol-dependent patients is still unclear and must be examined in more detail than has been done previously. We aimed to establish whether AB and AA measured during treatment would predict relapse in alcohol-dependent patients. We also investigated whether these implicit processes predicted time to relapse better than a more common binary relapse variable. A total of 50 alcohol-dependent outpatients undergoing treatment completed the study. Patients completed the Addiction Stroop Task, which assesses AB, and the relevant Stimulus-Response Compatibility Task, which measures AA. Time to relapse was assessed 1, 2, and 3 months after the bias assessment. Twenty patients (40%) relapsed during the follow-up period. The average time to relapse was 40 days after the first session. Overall, participants had an AB for alcohol-related stimuli and a tendency to avoid these stimuli. Neither relapse nor time to relapse was predicted by either bias type. Although both AB and avoidance tendencies were present in our sample, these measures did not predict relapse or time to relapse in an outpatient alcohol-dependent sample in the following 3 months. Future research should focus on studying the predictive value of these biases in the short term, for example, using ecological momentary assessment techniques to assess implicit processes shortly before a relapse.

Control-display alignment determines the prevalent compatibility effect in two-dimensional stimulus-response tasks.

Responses are faster and more accurate when they are spatially compatible with a stimulus than when they are incompatible (the stimulus-response compatibility (SRC) effect). In studies using two-dimensional (2-D) stimulus and response sets in which stimuli and responses have both vertical (top-bottom) and horizontal (right-left) spatial relations, SRC effects are generally larger along the horizontal dimension, an effect called right-left prevalence. Several accounts have been posited to explain this asymmetry, including frames of reference to the body and spatio-anatomical constraints. We propose a new account of the right-left prevalence effect in which prevalence effects are largely determined by the spatial alignment between elements on the stimulus display and response locations on the control panel--the control-display alignment (CDA). For example, when responses are aligned below a display, 2-D stimulus and response sets share a common vertical midline that emphasizes a right-left distinction. When responses are to the right or left of the display, the shared midline is horizontal, emphasizing the top-bottom distinction and should instead lead to top-bottom prevalence effects. Participants completed two-choice, 2-D SRC tasks in four control-display configurations with a response panel centered above, below, left, and right of a projected display. As hypothesized, right-left prevalence was elicited using vertical CDA and top-bottom prevalence was elicited using horizontal CDA. The findings demonstrate that CDA largely determines prevalence effects and should be taken into account when using multidimensional stimulus and response sets.

Stimulus-response compatibility with body parts: a study with hands.

Stimulus-response compatibility (SRC) effects are classified depending on the way that the elements of the stimulus and response sets interact, influencing both the speed and accuracy of the motor response. This is particularly important for social stimuli, such as hands. However, the stimuli used in most SRC studies are often simple or abstract figures. Our main goal in the present work was to investigate how task ensembles containing body parts (hands) as stimuli fit into Kornblum's taxonomy expressed in the dimensional overlap model. Specifically, we test whether hand stimuli elicit Simon or spatial Stroop effects in a SRC task. We set up two experiments using either hands or arrows as stimuli. Our results demonstrate that hands elicit a Simon effect in a SRC task. However, different from arrows, which constitute Type 8 Kornblum's ensembles, hands do not elicit a spatial Stroop effect and form Type 3 ensembles.

Extinction of aversive classically conditioned human sexual response.

Research has shown that acquired subjective likes and dislikes are quite resistant to extinction. Moreover, studies on female sexual response demonstrated that diminished genital arousal and positive affect toward erotic stimuli due to aversive classical conditioning did not extinguish during an extinction phase. Possible resistance to extinction of aversive conditioned sexual responses may have important clinical implications. However, resistance to extinction of aversive conditioned human sexual response has not been studied using extensive extinction trials. This article aims to study resistance to extinction of aversive conditioned sexual responses in sexually functional men and women. A differential conditioning experiment was conducted, with two erotic pictures as conditioned stimulus (CSs) and a painful stimulus as unconditioned stimuli (USs). Only one CS (the CS+) was followed by the US during the acquisition phase. Conditioned responses were assessed during the extinction phase. Penile circumference and vaginal pulse amplitude were assessed, and ratings of affective value and subjective sexual arousal were obtained. Also, a stimulus response compatibility task was included to assess automatic approach and avoidance tendencies. Men and women rated the CS+ more negative as compared with the CS-. During the first trials of the extinction phase, vaginal pulse amplitude was lower in response to the CS+ than in response to the CS-, and on the first extinction trial women rated the CS+ as less sexually arousing. Intriguingly, men did not demonstrate attenuated genital and subjective sexual response. Aversive conditioning, by means of painful stimuli, only affects sexual responses in women, whereas it does not in men. Although conditioned sexual likes and dislikes are relatively persistent, conditioned affect eventually does extinguish.