Modulation of the affordance effect through transfer of learning

Consistent evidence shows that practising with spatially incompatible stimulus–response trials modulates performance on following tasks requiring the solution of cognitive conflict such as the Simon and Stroop tasks. In the present study we assessed whether a spatially incompatible practice can modulate another effect that is thought to be due to a conflict between two response alternatives, the affordance effect. To this end, we requested participants to categorize pictures of common objects on the basis of their upright or inverted orientation. A group of participants performed the categorization task alone, while the other two groups performed the categorization task after practising with a spatial compatibility task with either a compatible or an incompatible mapping. Results showed that the spatially incompatible practice eliminated the affordance effect. These results indicate that the conflict at the basis of the affordance effect is not unavoidable but it rather permeable to modulations affecting the response selection stage. Indeed the “emit the alternative spatial response” rule acquired during the spatially incompatible task can transfer to and modulate how the subsequent affordance task is performed.