The Simon effect and its time courses: an investigation

Baroni, Giulia (2011) The Simon effect and its time courses: an investigation, [Dissertation thesis], Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna. Dottorato di ricerca in Mente, logica e linguaggio, 23 Ciclo.
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Abstract

The objective of the current thesis is to investigate the temporal dynamics (i.e., time courses) of the Simon effect, both from a theoretical and experimental point of view, for a better understanding of whether a) one or more process are responsible for the Simon effect and b) how this/these mechanism/s differently influence performance. In the first theoretical (i.e., “Theoretical Overview”) part, I examined in detail the process and justification for analyzing the temporal dynamics of the Simon effect and the assumptions that underlie interpretation of the results which have been obtained in the existing literature so far. In the second part (“Experimental Investigations”), though, I experimentally investigated several issues which the existing literature left unsolved, in order to get further evidence in favor or in contrast with the mainstream models which are currently used to account for the different Simon effect time courses. Some points about the experiments are worth mentioning: First, all the experiments were conducted in the laboratory, facing participants with stimuli presented on a PC screen and then recording their responses. Both stimuli presentation and response collection was controlled by the E-Prime software. The dependent variables of interest were always behavioral measures of performance, such as velocity and accuracy. Second, the most part of my experiments had been conducted at the Communication Sciences Department (University of Bologna), under Prof. Nicoletti’s supervision. The remaining part, though, had been conducted at the Psychological Sciences Department of Purdue University (West Lafayette, Indiana, USA), where I collaborated for one year as a visiting student with Prof. Proctor and his team. Third, my experimental pool was entirely composed by healthy and young students, since the cognitive functioning of elderly people was not the target of my research.

Abstract
Tipologia del documento
Tesi di dottorato
Autore
Baroni, Giulia
Supervisore
Dottorato di ricerca
Scuola di dottorato
Scienze umanistiche
Ciclo
23
Coordinatore
Settore disciplinare
Settore concorsuale
Parole chiave
attention and performance Simon effect spatial compatibility effects
URN:NBN
Data di discussione
8 Luglio 2011
URI

Altri metadati

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