Parallel patterns of spatial compatibility and spatial congruence…as long as you don't look too closely

The effects of spatial compatibility and spatial congruence have both been explained in terms of a dual-route model under which spatial information about the stimulus, regardless of task relevance, is directly passed from perception to action. Recently, however, some alternatives to the dual-route model of the Simon Effect have been proposed (or re-introduced) as viable explanations. The present experiment compared the magnitudes of the effects of spatial compatibility and spatial congruence across a range of tasks that varied in their dimensional overlap. The results exhibited a remarkable parallel between the two phenomena when viewed only in terms of the interaction between stimulus set and response set. This could be taken as new evidence for a common origin. However, when the entire pattern of results was examined, a large difference between compatibility and congruence were also seen, which implies that there is at least one important difference between the two phenomena.