Affective Simon effects using facial expressions as affective stimuli

Two experiments are reported in which facial expressions were presented and participants were asked to respond with the word POSITIVE or NEGATIVE on the basis of a relevant feature of the facial stimuli while ignoring the valence of the expression. Results showed that reaction times were influenced by the match between the valence of the facial expression and the valence of the correct response when the identity of the presented person had to be determined in order to select the correct response, but not when the gender of the presented person was relevant. The present experiments illustrate the flexibility of the affective Simon paradigm and provide a further demonstration of the generalizability of the affective Simon effect.