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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Dec 12, 2025

Using Practice Testing, Public Speaking, and Source Monitoring to Examine the Influences of Learning Strategies and Stress on Episodic Memory

Using Practice Testing, Public Speaking, and Source Monitoring to Examine the Influences of Learning Strategies and Stress on Episodic Memory

Published on: June 14, 2019

Practice effects vs. transfer effects in the Simon task.

Stefania D'Ascenzo¹, Luisa Lugli², Roberto Nicoletti²

¹Department of Philosophy and Communication, University of Bologna, Via Azzo Gardino, 23, 40122, Bologna, Italy. stefania.dascenzo@unibo.it.

Psychological Research

|August 10, 2020

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Practice effects, not transfer effects, primarily modulate the Simon effect, even across different response modalities. This finding clarifies how task experience influences cognitive processes.

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Human Factors
Neuroscience

Background:

The Simon effect demonstrates faster, more accurate responses when stimulus and response locations correspond, despite location being irrelevant.
This robust effect is known to be modulated by practice (trial number) and transfer (prior tasks).

Purpose of the Study:

To differentiate the influence of practice versus transfer on the Simon effect.
To determine if Simon effect modulation extends to different response modalities (manual vs. ocular).

Main Methods:

Three experiments involved Baseline, Inducer, and Diagnostic sessions with varying trial relevance and response types.
The Inducer session manipulated stimulus-response mapping (compatible/incompatible) to induce practice or transfer.
Response modalities included manual and ocular responses across sessions and experiments.

Main Results:

A reduced Simon effect was observed in the Diagnostic session following the Inducer session, irrespective of mapping compatibility.
This reduction occurred regardless of whether the response modality remained consistent or changed between sessions.

Conclusions:

Practice effects appear to be a stronger influence on modulating the Simon effect than transfer effects.
The findings suggest that task experience, specifically practice, has a dominant role in shaping cognitive performance on the Simon task, even with cross-modal transfer.