My da|ra Login

The present study used covert means to implicitly cue responses in a Simon Task in order to investigate how participants anticipate and resolve conflicts between relevant and irrelevant stimulus information. Participants were randomly assigned to either a Non-predictive or a Predictive Simon Task in which implicit cues predicted the correct response. Results showed that, despite an overall high level of accuracy between the two tasks, when implicit cues were present the average Simon Effect was significantly smaller compared to when cues were absent. Group mean differences in Simon effect scores support that implicit priming mechanisms modulate response selection and action monitoring when conveying information about response outcomes. These results demonstrate that knowledge learned implicitly can be used to resolve conflict between relevant and irrelevant stimulus information in order to avoid non-optimal behavior, providing evidence for the role of implicit learning in action control of response affordances.

Response Rates: Fifty-three undergraduates from the Catholic University of America were recruited and received course credit to participate in the present study but only forty-eight (32 females; 16 males, aged 18 to 23 years, M = 18.92, SD = 1.22) met the inclusion criteria for the analysis.