Simon effect

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In psychology, the Simon effect is the finding that the response latencies to stimuli are lower when the stimulus and the reaction are in the same place, even if the stimulus position is irrelevant for performing the task. This effect was named after JR Simon , who originally called it reaction toward the source .

How the Simon Effect comes about is not fully understood. It can be seen both as a result of a conflict of different spatial codes of stimulus and response and as a more general effect of compatibility or incompatibility.

Wallace (1971) was able to show a similar compatibility effect: test subjects reacted more quickly to stimuli presented on the left or right (i.e. congruent conditions) with a left or right button, regardless of whether the left and right hands crossed the left and right buttons or crossed them Hands the left hand was assigned to the right button and the right hand to the left button.

Demonstration of the Simon Effect

The Simon effect can be demonstrated using the following example: A person is asked to react to stimuli presented on a screen . The reaction should take place by pressing a button on the left side for green stimuli and by pressing a button on the right side for red stimuli. Then the people are presented with red and green stimuli on both the right and left of the screen. People usually react faster when the green stimuli appear on the left and the red stimuli on the right, i.e. on the same side as the button to be pressed. This shows up even though the position of the stimulus is irrelevant to the completion of the task, as the subjects are asked to only respond to the color.

The affective Simon effect

While the classic Simon effect is based on the spatial congruence of stimulus and response, the affective Simon effect is based on the affective congruence of stimulus and response. People are faster when they are asked to respond to a positive stimulus with a positive-colored answer instead of a negative-colored answer, and vice versa. The reason for this is assumed to be a compatibility or incompatibility of irrelevant evaluation of the stimulus and relevant evaluation of the response.

literature

  • Simon, JR & Rudell, AP (1967): Auditory SR compatibility: The effect of an irrelevant cue on information processing. Journal of Applied Psychology , 51, 300-304.
  • Simon, JR (1969): Reaction toward the source of stimulation. Journal of Experimental Psychology , 81, 174-176.
  • De Houwer, J. & Eelen, P. (1998): An affective variant of the Simon paradigm. Cognition and Emotion , 12, 45-61.

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