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Sex differences in implicit processing of allocentric relationships between objects and location in a Simon task

Simon tasks reveal implicit processing conflicts that arise when the abstract coding of stimulus position is incongruent with coding for location of the output response. Participants were tested with two versions of a Simon task in a counterbalanced order to examine a potential female bias for atten...

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Autores principales: Mosso, Matthew, Freudenberg, Adam, McCracken, Kristofer, McGivern, Robert F.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7375599/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32697771
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0235964
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author Mosso, Matthew
Freudenberg, Adam
McCracken, Kristofer
McGivern, Robert F.
author_facet Mosso, Matthew
Freudenberg, Adam
McCracken, Kristofer
McGivern, Robert F.
author_sort Mosso, Matthew
collection PubMed
description Simon tasks reveal implicit processing conflicts that arise when the abstract coding of stimulus position is incongruent with coding for location of the output response. Participants were tested with two versions of a Simon task in a counterbalanced order to examine a potential female bias for attending to object characteristics versus object location. Both tasks used a triangle pointing to the left or right. A simple version presented the triangle in an inner or outer position relative to central fixation. A more complex version included a frame surrounding the inner-outer triangle presentation area in order to introduce additional visual elements for left/right visual processing. When the No Frame version was the first presented, there were no sex differences in the Simon effect in either version, which is consistent with results from other studies that did not provide feedback regarding accuracy. When the initial test was the Frame version, we observed a reverse Simon effect for incongruent triangles presented in the left inner position, with females faster than males to identify the incongruent condition versus the congruent (-59 vs -5 msec). In the No Frame condition that followed, females showed a carryover effect from the previous Frame condition, exhibiting positive Simon effects that were two fold larger than males for identifying incongruent stimuli presented in the left and right outer positions. Similar to previous Simon studies, females showed longer overall reaction times than males (~15%). The difference was not related to the Simon effect and is also found in other types of tasks involving early visual processing of objects with location. Based on sex differences in the Simon effect that emerged following initial experience of the triangle adjoining the frame, the present results support a female bias toward broader integration of objects within the context of location.
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spelling pubmed-73755992020-08-04 Sex differences in implicit processing of allocentric relationships between objects and location in a Simon task Mosso, Matthew Freudenberg, Adam McCracken, Kristofer McGivern, Robert F. PLoS One Research Article Simon tasks reveal implicit processing conflicts that arise when the abstract coding of stimulus position is incongruent with coding for location of the output response. Participants were tested with two versions of a Simon task in a counterbalanced order to examine a potential female bias for attending to object characteristics versus object location. Both tasks used a triangle pointing to the left or right. A simple version presented the triangle in an inner or outer position relative to central fixation. A more complex version included a frame surrounding the inner-outer triangle presentation area in order to introduce additional visual elements for left/right visual processing. When the No Frame version was the first presented, there were no sex differences in the Simon effect in either version, which is consistent with results from other studies that did not provide feedback regarding accuracy. When the initial test was the Frame version, we observed a reverse Simon effect for incongruent triangles presented in the left inner position, with females faster than males to identify the incongruent condition versus the congruent (-59 vs -5 msec). In the No Frame condition that followed, females showed a carryover effect from the previous Frame condition, exhibiting positive Simon effects that were two fold larger than males for identifying incongruent stimuli presented in the left and right outer positions. Similar to previous Simon studies, females showed longer overall reaction times than males (~15%). The difference was not related to the Simon effect and is also found in other types of tasks involving early visual processing of objects with location. Based on sex differences in the Simon effect that emerged following initial experience of the triangle adjoining the frame, the present results support a female bias toward broader integration of objects within the context of location. Public Library of Science 2020-07-22 /pmc/articles/PMC7375599/ /pubmed/32697771 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0235964 Text en © 2020 Mosso et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Mosso, Matthew
Freudenberg, Adam
McCracken, Kristofer
McGivern, Robert F.
Sex differences in implicit processing of allocentric relationships between objects and location in a Simon task
title Sex differences in implicit processing of allocentric relationships between objects and location in a Simon task
title_full Sex differences in implicit processing of allocentric relationships between objects and location in a Simon task
title_fullStr Sex differences in implicit processing of allocentric relationships between objects and location in a Simon task
title_full_unstemmed Sex differences in implicit processing of allocentric relationships between objects and location in a Simon task
title_short Sex differences in implicit processing of allocentric relationships between objects and location in a Simon task
title_sort sex differences in implicit processing of allocentric relationships between objects and location in a simon task
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7375599/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32697771
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0235964
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