Modes of Spatial Coding in the Simon Task

Many models of the Simon effect assume that categorical spatial representations underlie the phenomenon. The present study tested this assumption explicitly in two experiments, both of which involved eight possible spatial positions of imperative stimuli arranged horizontally on the screen. In Experiment 1, the eight stimulus locations were marked with eight square boxes that appeared at the same time during a trial. Results showed gradually increasing Simon effects from the central locations to the outer locations. In Experiment 2, the eight stimulus locations consisted of a combination of three frames of spatial reference (hemispace, hemifield, and position relative to the fixation), with each frame appearing in different timings. In contrast to Experiment 1, results showed an oscillating pattern of the Simon effect across the horizontal positions. These findings are discussed in terms of grouping factors involved in the Simon task. The locations seem to be coded as a single continuous dimension when all are visible at once as in Experiment 1, but they are represented as a combination of the lateral categories (“left” vs. “right”) with multiple frames of reference when the reference frames are presented successively as in Experiment 2

Spatial Stroop interference occurs in the processing of radicals of ideogrammic compounds

In this study, we investigated whether the meanings of radicals are involved in reading ideogrammic compounds in a spatial Stroop task. We found spatial Stroop effects of similar size for the simple characters ("up") and ("down") and for the complex characters ("nervous") and ("nervous"), which are ideogrammic compounds containing a radical or, in Experiments 1 and 2. In Experiment 3, the spatial Stroop effects were also similar for the simple characters ("east") and ("west") and for the complex characters ("state") and ("spray"), which contain and as radicals. This outcome occurred regardless of whether the task was to identify the character (Exps. 1 and 3) or its location (Exp. 2). Thus, the spatial Stroop effect emerges in the processing of radicals just as it does for processing simple characters. This finding suggests that when reading ideogrammic compounds, (a) their radicals' meanings can be processed and (b) ideogrammic compounds have little or no influence on their radicals' semantic processing

Daylight Glare Evaluation When the Sun is Within the Field of View Through Window Shades

Shading fabrics have the ability to reduce daylight glare and provide privacy when needed. Recent studies have shown that glare indices such as DGP and its simplified version can be used to predict daylight glare through shades when the sun is not within the field of view. However, there are no comprehensive studies on glare sensation with the sun visible through the fabric – a situation that happens in office buildings – and therefore the applicability of glare indices for such conditions is uncertain. Shades with very low openness factors transmit only a small amount of direct sunlight due to their weave density; nevertheless, existing glare metrics may show intolerable conditions for these cases, while specific studies with human subjects are nearly non-existent. This paper presents an experimental study on daylight glare evaluation for the case of shading fabrics with the sun within the field of view. 41 human subjects (n=41) were tested while performing specific office activities, with 14 shade products of different openness factors and visible transmittance values (direct and total light transmission characteristics). The measured variables and survey results were used to: (i) associate discomfort glare with measured and modeled parameters for these cases (ii) evaluate the robustness of existing glare indices for these cases (iii) examine recently suggested alternate (direct and total vertical illuminance) criteria for glare assessment through fabrics, extract discomfort thresholds and suggest a new related index and (iv) propose corrections in the DGP equation when the sun is visible through the shades, which could be generalized for other systems following a similar approach. Combining illuminance-based metrics and existing glare indices can result in a more realistic glare evaluation covering all cases with and without the sun through shading fabrics. The new results can be inversely used as thresholds for selecting optical properties of shades to ensure glare protection, as well as for the development of glare-based shading controls.

Performance on Cue Recognition and Evasive Action Skills as Predictors of Effective Driving in College-Age Drivers

Two experiments compared self-reported driving effectiveness oflicensed drivers (mean age 19 years) to their performance on two simulateddriving tasks. For both experiments, drivers first completed a driving historyquestionnaire. In Experiment 1, they then performed Cue Recognition, whichuses stationary line drawings of vehicles as stimuli and requires a turning orbraking response to an appropriate stimulus. Males responded faster than females,especially for the most complex choice responses, and reported more tickets.Drivers reporting no tickets responded slower than those reporting at least oneticket, and they reported fewer accidents. In Experiment 2, drivers also performedEvasive Action Skills, which uses more realistic recorded driving scenarios inwhich the appearance of a hazard is the imperative stimulus that commands theappropriate turn or brake response. Number of errors on Evasive Action Skillscorrelated significantly with number of self-reported accidents. Response timeson Cue Recognition and Evasive Action Skills were correlated, but there was norelation between response times on Cue Recognition and errors on EvasiveAction Skills. However, a comparison of the 10 fastest and 10 slowest drivers onCue Recognition showed that the fastest responders committed significantly moreerrors on Evasive Action Skills than did the slowest responders. The data in bothexperiments reflect a speed-accuracy tradeoff

Information Processing: The Language and Analytical Tools for Cognitive Psychology in the Information Age

The information age can be dated to the work of Norbert Wiener and Claude Shannon in the 1940s. Their work on cybernetics and information theory, and many subsequent developments, had a profound influence on reshaping the field of psychology from what it was prior to the 1950s. Contemporaneously, advances also occurred in experimental design and inferential statistical testing stemming from the work of Ronald Fisher, Jerzy Neyman, and Egon Pearson. These interdisciplinary advances from outside of psychology provided the conceptual and methodological tools for what is often called the cognitive revolution but is more accurately described as the information-processing revolution. Cybernetics set the stage with the idea that everything ranging from neurophysiological mechanisms to societal activities can be modeled as structured control systems with feedforward and feedback loops. Information theory offered a way to quantify entropy and information, and promoted theorizing in terms of information flow. Statistical theory provided means for making scientific inferences from the results of controlled experiments and for conceptualizing human decision making. With those three pillars, a cognitive psychology adapted to the information age evolved. The growth of technology in the information age has resulted in human lives being increasingly interweaved with the cyber environment, making cognitive psychology an essential part of interdisciplinary research on such interweaving. Continued engagement in interdisciplinary research at the forefront of technology development provides a chance for psychologists not only to refine their theories but also to play a major role in the advent of a new age of science

Flowers and Spiders in Spatial Stimulus-Response Compatibility: Does Affective Valence Influence Selection of Task-Sets or Selection of Responses?

The present study examined the effect of stimulus valence on two levels of selection in the cognitive system, selection of a task-set and selection of a response. In the first experiment, participants performed a spatial compatibility task (pressing left and right keys according to the locations of stimuli) in which stimulus-response mappings were determined by stimulus valence. There was a standard spatial stimulus-response compatibility (SRC) effect for positive stimuli (flowers) and a reversed SRC effect for negative stimuli (spiders), but the same data could be interpreted as showing faster responses when positive and negative stimuli were assigned to compatible and incompatible mappings, respectively, than when the assignment was opposite. Experiment 2 disentangled these interpretations, showing that valence did not influence a spatial SRC effect (Simon effect) when task-set retrieval was unnecessary. Experiments 3 and 4 replaced keypress responses with joystick deflections that afforded approach/avoidance action coding. Stimulus valence modulated the Simon effect (but did not reverse it) when the valence was task-relevant (Experiment 3) as well as when it was task-irrelevant (Experiment 4). Therefore, stimulus valence influences task-set selection and response selection, but the influence on the latter is limited to conditions where responses afford approach/avoidance action coding

Effect of a Side Collision-Avoidance Signal on Simulated Driving with a Navigation System

Effects of a side collision-avoidance system (SCAS) signal on driving behavior were examined in an environment in which a nagivation signal was also used. Sixteen undergraduate students participated in this study, and a computerbased STISIM driving simulator was used in the project. Subjects were asked to respond to two signals, a visually displayed directional signal generated by a simulated navigation system (NAS) and a monaural auditory tone from a simulated SCAS presented after a NAS signal. Subjects were instructed that the SCAS signal conveyed directional information about an impending threat (the location of the danger from which they were to turn, or the escape direction toward which they were to turn). Contrary to previous findings in a non-driving environment (Wang et al., 2003), response time (RT) was significantly shorter for the group in which the location of the SCAS signal was spatially compatible with the location of the danger than for the group in which the SCAS signal location was incompatible with the location of the danger. Mean RT was not significantly shorter when the direction of the NAS signal and the location of the SCAS signal corresponded than when they did not. Given that subjects tended to withhold responding until they perceived the encroaching car, the benefit of a SCAS may be to direct a driver’s attention in the direction of an impending threat before the driver would ordinarily detect it

On the advance preparation of discrete finger responses

Most studies that examined the precuing of motor responses have been interpreted as indicating that response specification is a variable-order process. An apparent exception to this conclusion was obtained by The manner in which motor responses are prepared for execution is an important issue in the study of human movement More recently, several studies have employed a precuing (or priming) procedure in which the target stimulus is preceded by a cue stimulus that limits the possible response al

The Simon Effect Asymmetry for Left- and Right-Dominant Persons

When participants respond to a task-relevant stimulus attribute by pressing a left or right key with the respective index finger, reaction time is shorter if task-irrelevant left-right stimulus location corresponds to that of the response key than if it does not. For right-handers, this Simon effect is larger for right-located than left-located stimuli; for left-handers this Simon-effect asymmetry is reversed. A similar asymmetry has been found for right-footers pressing pedals with their feet. For analyses that separate stimulus- and response-location factors, these asymmetries appear as a main effect of response location, with responses being faster with the dominant effector. If the Simon-effect asymmetry is strictly a function of effector dominance, it should reverse for left-footers responding with their feet. In Experiment 1, left-dominant persons showed faster responses with the left than right hand but with the right than left foot, a finding consistent with prior research on tapping actions. Right-dominant persons also showed the right-foot asymmetry but, unexpectedly, not the typical asymmetry with hand responses. To evaluate whether hand-presses yield results distinct from finger-presses, in Experiment 2 participants performed the Simon task with finger-presses and hand-presses. The opposing asymmetries for right- and left-dominant persons were evident for both response modes. Our results are consistent with the view that the Simon effect asymmetry is primarily due to differences in effector efficiency, usually but not always favoring the dominant effector