Response inhibition and adaptations to response conflict in 6- to 8-year-old children: Evidence from the Simon effect

• Published in: Attention, perception & psychophysics Vol. 76; no. 4; pp. 1234 - 1241
• Main Authors: Iani, Cristina, Stella, Giacomo, Rubichi, Sandro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01.05.2014; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Activity levels. Psychomotricity; Adaptation, Psychological; Adjustment; Age Factors; Analysis of Variance; Attention - physiology; Behavior; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child development; Cognitive Psychology; Communication disorders; Conflict (Psychology); Conflict resolution; Developmental psychology; Evidence; Feedback (Response); Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Grade 1; Grade 2; Humans; Inhibition; Inhibition (Psychology); Male; Psychology; Psychology, Child; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychomotor activities; Reaction Time - physiology; Recognition (Psychology) - physiology; Resistance (Psychology); Studies; Visual Perception - physiology; Response inhibition; Simon effect; Correspondence sequence; Cognitive control; Conflict-driven adaptations; Human; Stimulus response compatibility; Cognition; School age; Conflict; Vision; Perception; Cognitive development; Inhibition; Child; Adaptation
• ISSN: 1943-3921; 1943-393X
• DOI: 10.3758/s13414-014-0656-9

Several studies have shown that the Simon effect, which is the advantage of spatial correspondence between stimulus and response locations when the stimulus location is task-irrelevant, decreases with increasing response times and is affected by preceding-trial correspondence. These modulations suggest the existence of control mechanisms that adapt our behavior to current goals by responding to the conflict experienced within a trial and by preventing the recurrence of a conflict in the subsequent trial. The aim of the present study was to assess whether these control mechanisms, which are well consolidated in adults and in children older than 8 years of age, are present in children between 6 and 8 years old. To this end, we tested 32 first-grade (6–7 years) and 34 second-grade (7–8 years) children on a Simon task in which correspondence sequence was manipulated on a trial-by-trial basis. The Simon effect was larger for first- than for second-graders and decreased with increasing response times only in second-graders. Crucially, for both groups, the effect was reduced when the preceding trial was noncorresponding, and the reductions were comparable for the two groups, indicating that trial-by-trial control mechanisms are already present in first-grade children and may be dissociated from within-trial control adjustments.