Simon effect with central stimuli: A time-course analysis

Viene riportata la presenza dell'effetto Simon anche con stimoli presentati al centro dello schermo e non in posizioni periferiche. In three experiments, the Simon effect was investigated with centrally presented stimuli that conveyed a left/right spatial information through iconic-symbolic (Experiment 1) and semantic (Experiments 2 and 3) codes. Experiment 1 provided clear evidence of a Simon effect produced by left/right pointing arrows while Experiments 2 and 3 suggested that extra time for stimulus coding is needed to allow for a Simon effect to show up with “LEFT”/“RIGHT” spatial words. The time-course investigation of the Simon effects showed that the effects increased in magnitude with increasing reaction times, suggesting that a more time-consuming activation of a cognitive spatial code was responsible for the Simon effects to emerge.