The Spatial Coding Mechanisms of Gaze-Direction Simon Effect

DIAO Ya-Jun; ZHANG Zhi-Jun; LIU Wei

Journal of Psychological Science ›› 2012, Vol. 35 ›› Issue (2) : 304-308.

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Abstract

As the gaze-direction Simon effect (GSE) showed, although completely irrelevant to the task, direction of gaze influenced reaction times in a spatially selective two-choice discrimination based on eye color. Two experiments were conducted to investigate the spatial coding mechanisms of gaze Simon effect. In Experiment 1, subjects performed a color judgment Simon task with their hands crossed. The result showed that there was no a reversal of the direction of the GSE, thereby suggesting that the GSE operates at a more abstract level of representation of the left and right responses, rather than a hemispheric dominance effect on the basis of a hand-centered frame reference. In Experiment 2, a tone discrimination task was utilized and a regular GSE was found. Combined with the result of Experiment 1, we could speculate that GSE does not occur at the earlier perceptual processing stage. These results provide a strong evidence to support the idea that gaze cue can automatically generate a spatially abstract code.

Key words

joint attention / Simon effect / gaze-direction Simon effect / spatial coding

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The Spatial Coding Mechanisms of Gaze-Direction Simon Effect[J]. Journal of Psychological Science. 2012, 35(2): 304-308

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