The Roles of Attentional Shifts and Attentional Reengagement in Resolving The Spatial Compatibility Effect in Tactile Simon-like Tasks

The Simon effect refers to the acceleration of choice responses when the target position and response location are consistent compared with scenarios in which they are inconsistent, even if the target position is not relevant to the response. Here, we provide the first demonstration that the tactile Simon-like effect operates in an attention-shifting manner. In unimodal scenarios (Experiments 1–4), for the tactile direction task, the spatial compatibility effect was absent in the focused-attention condition but maintained in the divided-attention condition. For the tactile localization task, this pattern was reversed: the spatial compatibility effect occurred for the focused-attention condition but was reduced/absent in the divided-attention condition. In the audiotactile interaction scenario (Experiment 5), the reaction times (RTs) for discriminating the tactile motion direction were prolonged; however, a spatial compatibility effect was not observed. We propose that the temporal course of resolving conflicts between spatial codes during attentional shifts, including attentional reengagement, may account for the tactile Simon-like effect.