Object-based correspondence effects for action-relevant and surface-property judgments with keypress responses:...

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Perception and Action

Background:

• The grasping affordance account suggests object properties influence action-related responses.
• This account predicts Simon effects for graspable object parts, particularly shape.
• An alternative spatial coding account distinguishes integral and separable stimulus dimensions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To test the grasping affordance account against the spatial coding account.
• To investigate how object properties like shape and color influence Simon effects.
• To determine if action-relevance (active vs. passive handle state) affects Simon effects.

Main Methods:

• Participants made judgments about object properties (color, shape, orientation) of a door handle.
• Simon effects were measured based on keypress responses relative to object location.
• Experiments manipulated the location and nature of the colored region and handle state.

Main Results:

• Shape and orientation judgments did not produce Simon effects.
• Color judgments showed Simon effects, with their location varying based on the colored region.
• Simon effects for color were not consistently larger for active versus passive handle states.

Conclusions:

• Findings support the spatial coding account over the grasping affordance account.
• Object color is treated as a separable dimension, while shape/orientation are integral.
• This distinction explains the differential emergence of Simon effects based on stimulus properties.