Comparing Stroop-like and Simon Effects on Perceptual Features

Stroop-like and Simon tasks produce two sources of interference in human information processing. Despite being logically similar, it is still debated whether the conflicts ensuing from the two tasks are resolved by the same or different mechanisms. In the present study, we compare two accounts of the Stroop-like effect. According to the Perceptual Account, the Stroop-like effect is due to Stimulus-Stimulus congruence. According to the Decisional Account, the Stroop-like effect results from the same mechanisms that produce the Simon effect, that is, Stimulus-Response compatibility. In two experiments we produced Stroop-like and Simon effects by presenting left/right-located stimuli consisting of a colored square surrounded by a frame of the same color as the square or of a different color. Results showed that discriminating either the color of the square (Experiment 1) or that of the frame (Experiment 2) yielded additive Stroop-like and Simon effects. In addition, the patterns of temporal distributions of the two effects were different. These results support the Perceptual Account of the Stroop-like effect and the notion that the Stroop-like effect and the Simon effect occur at different processing stages and are attributable to different mechanisms

L\u2019esperienza estetica nell\u2019ottica dell\u2019embodiment e delle teorie della performance

Esperimenti recenti hanno dimostrato il coinvolgimento del sistema sensori-motorio nella fruizione estetica e nella valutazione della qualit\ue0 estetica di opere d\u2019arte. Il coinvolgimento del sistema sensori-motorio \ue8 stato evidenziato anche nella fruizione di altre forme artistiche quali il cinema, il teatro e la lettura di testi letterari. La teoria della performance, proposta da Erika Fischer-Lichte nel corso degli ultimi vent\u2019anni, \ue8 un ottimo pontiere fra questi nuovi portati sperimentali delle scienze cognitive e le teorie estetiche nelle scienze umane. La teoria della performance pensa l\u2019esperienza estetica, proprio come le neuroscienze, a partire dalla corporeit\ue0 del fruitore come un\u2019esperienza embodied. Questa rinnovata prospettiva interdisciplinare ci induce a ridiscutere concetti basilari della teoria estetica quali la mimesi, l\u2019esperienza e la valutazione estetiche

Inhbition of return in newborns is temporo-nasal asymmetrical.

Inhibition of return (IOR) is a reduced tendency to orient toward a previously attended spatial location. Inhibition of return is caused by suddenly introduced visual cues and reflects an attentional bias toward novel locations. It is indexed by an increased latency and/or a reduced tendency of an eye movement to the inhibited location. Under monocular viewing conditions, we submitted 24 newborns (M age = 50 hours) to trials consisting of a pretest phase (a single visual cue shown at 15\ub0 from fixation) and a test phase (two simultaneous, identical stimuli shown in the two visual hemifields at 15\ub0). The results showed that, in the test phase, eye movements occured more often and with a shorter latency toward the side that had not been cued in the pretest phase. It was also found that the bias against the cued hemifield (i.e., IOR) was greater in the temporal than in the nasal hemifield. It was concluded that IOR is present just after birth and is mediated by extrageniculate rather than geniculostriate pathways. \ua9 1995

The Simon effect occurs relative to the direction of an attention shift.

Si dimostra che il Simon effect si basa sul precedente spostamento dell'attenzione spaziale. La posizione dello stimolo viene quindi preceduta e codificata in base allo spostamento dell'attenzion

Living on the edge: strategic and instructed slowing in the stop signal task

The stop signal task is widely adopted to assess motor inhibition performance in both clinical and non-clinical populations. Several recent studies explored the influence of strategic approaches to the task. In particular, response slowing seems to be a strategic approach commonly adopted to perform the task. In the present study, we compared a standard version with a strategic version of the task, in which participants were explicitly instructed to slow down responses. Results showed that the instructed slowing did not affect the main inhibition measure, thus confirming the robustness of the stop signal index. On the other hand, it apparently changed the nature of the task, as shown by the lack of correlation between the standard and the strategic versions. In addition, we found a specific influence of individual characteristics on slowing strategies. In the standard version, adherence to task instructions was positively correlated with compliant traits of personality. Despite instructions to maximize response speed, non-compliant participants preferred to adopt a slowing strategy in the standard version of the task, up to a speed level similar to the strategic version, where slowing was required by task instructions. Understanding the role of individual approach to the task seems to be crucial to properly identify how participants cope with task instructions