Automatic effects of No-Go instructions

Previous research has indicated that stimulus-response mappings that have been instructed but never applied overtly before can lead to automatic response biases when they are irrelevant. In the present study, we investigated whether the same applies to no-go instructions, which relate a stimulus to a no-go response. The results of 2 experiments suggest that a no-go instruction that has never been practiced overtly before can automatically bias responding when it is irrelevant. In addition, the automatic effect of a no-go instruction was similar in size to the automatic effect of a go instruction. Finally, the automatic effect of an unpracticed no-go instruction tended to be larger than the automatic effect of an overtly practiced no-go instruction. We propose that (a) associations between a stimulus and the requirement to stop can be formed on the basis of instructions and without overt practice, (b) these associations may be functionally equivalent to associations formed on the basis of go instructions, and (c) overtly practiced no-go instructions and unpracticed no-go instructions are represented in different formats

Automatic motor activation by mere instruction

Previous behavioral studies have shown that instructions about stimulus-response (S-R) mappings can influence task performance even when these instructions are irrelevant for the current task. In the present study, we tested whether automatic effects of S-R instructions occur because the instructed stimuli automatically activate their corresponding responses. We registered the lateralized readiness potentials (LRPs) that were evoked by the instructed stimuli while participants were performing a task for which those mappings were irrelevant. Instructed S-R mappings clearly affected task performance in electrophysiological and behavioral measures. The LRP was found to deflect in the direction of the response tendency that corresponded with the instructed S-R mapping. Early activation of the instructed response was observed but occurred predominantly on slow trials. In contrast, response conflict evoked by instructed S-R mappings did not modulate the N2 amplitude. The results strongly suggest that, like experienced S-R mappings, instructed S-R mappings can lead to automatic response activation, but possibly via a different route

Eliminating the Simon effect by instruction

A growing body of research demonstrates that instructions can elicit automatic response activations. The results of the present study indicate that instruction-based response activations can also counteract automatic response activations based on long-term associations. To this end, we focused on the Simon effect, which is the observation that responding to a nonspatial feature of a stimulus (e. g., color) is faster and more accurate when the task-irrelevant stimulus position matches the spatial position of the correct response. The Simon effect can be eliminated or even reversed when combining a Simon task with an incompatible position task (e. g., press right for left stimuli; press left for right stimuli). The present study demonstrates that the Simon effect is eliminated even after presenting only the instructions of an incompatible position task, without participants having the opportunity to practice that task. Moderate practice of the incompatible task did not add anything to the effect of the instructions. Finally, the instructions of a compatible spatial stimulus-response task did not affect the Simon effect. The present results converge with previous findings indicating that the Simon effect is highly malleable and suggest that stimulus-response associations formed on the basis of instructions can counteract effects of long-term stimulus-response associations