Simon Task Research

Simon Task Research

1.0 Introduction

According to Schlaghecken et al. (2017), Simon task refers to a scientific procedure that helps in making discoveries, testing hypotheses, and in demonstrating known facts. Aisenberg (2018) asserts that Simon experiments, especially in psychology tests predictions through subjecting individuals or groups to one or many conditions such as IV or various levels of independent variables, and after that, it measures the effects portrayed by task performance. Yamaguchi, Wall, and Hommel (2018) posit that within the subjects which are also referred to as repeated measures, designs helps in measuring the same items that are under different conditions. Also, the independent group’s designs help in assigning different people to the independent variable in each level. Erb and Marcovitch (2019) postulate Simon’s task is an experimental paradigm that focuses on the compatibility of the stimulus-response through tapping in an executive function type, also known as visuospatial inhibition. Hübner and Töbel (2019)  also believe that the compatible nature of items together with the position of irrelevant spatial comes in to support the correct rule-direct response. At the same time, the incompatible items usually present its position in irrelevant spatial conflict thou it possesses the right response. According to Dolk and  Liepelt (2018), the task mainly is usually in need of inhibitory controls that help in ignoring the information perceived to be in an irrelevant position, especially in the incompatible trials. Servant et al. (2017) assert that several studies that explore Simon Task have come into an agreement concerning the results in the irrelevant location information where such results usually become reliable for longer reaction times for the incompatible items.

On the same, the results at times are associated with lower accuracy. Narra, Heathcote, and Finkbeiner (2016) posit that the increased time to respond to the incompatible items is what is referred to as the Simon Effect. On the other hand, Bilinguals present in Simon Task usually have a tendency to portray better performances, which has a connection with their abilities in managing attention depending on the complex set that is caused by the rapid change in the task demands (Berroir, 2017). In a research that was conducted to test different age groups concerning bilingual, Vender, et al. (2019) posit that,  the young adults groups did not have any Simon effect. On the other side,  while the groups with children under five years, middle-aged between thirty and sixty years, and that of the older adults showed faster reaction times.

In this case, where bilingual advantage occurred, both compatible and incompatible trials were noted.

Consequently, O’Connor (2018)  indulged in comparing two different young adults with diverse backgrounds where one was German and English, and the other belonged to Spanish and English who were to be compared with a control group consisting of English monolingual speakers. The results proved that Reaction times were faster for the compatible when compared with the incompatible trials in the Simon effect. In this case, the German group showed to have faster reactions when compared to both French- English and the monolingual, which showed no difference in each case (Desjardins & Fernandez, 2018). The case was different though the authors did not give any explanation concerning its effects.

Concerning the linguistic distance effect, Vaughn, Archila-Suerte, and Hernandez (2019) conducted recent research where the participants subjected to the test ranged between the ages of 50-75 years. The author wanted to have a concrete analysis between two language groups to investigate the effects that lingual difference possesses, especially with their portrayal in beneficial effects that had a relationship in improving processing costs in executive functions. Despite the author’s efforts in their efforts in identifying different multi-lingual distances,  it has come to the attention that no author has tempted to look into the Chinese-English with the bilinguals in European- English, which will be essential someday.

From the analysis, the significant role that Simon’s task had was in identifying and analyzing the cognitive research that was centered on bilingualism and brain injury studies. Our main aim was to explore the leading cause that would affect the linguistic distance by trying to use literature as a way of filling the existing gap through the Simon task. Therefore, the  analysis now leads us to the following research questions;

2.1 Research objectives

• To determine the effect of the Simon Effect on compatible and incompatible trials
• To evaluate the linguistic distance effect performance on Simon task
• To provide a relevant recommendation on compatible and incompatible trials on accuracy and time differences

2.2 Research Questions

The following research questions will act as a research guide in finding the linguistic distance effect on performance in Simon’s task.

• Will reaction time and accuracy differences between compatible and incompatible trials have a Simon effect?
• Will Chinese native speakers have a difference in the Simon task performance when compared to European native speakers?

2.3 Hypotheses

The current research tries to prove the following through the help of previous studies;

H1. The reaction time and accuracy pose a significant difference for both compatible and incompatible trials showing that the Simon effect will be present.

H2.  Compared to native speakers, the Chinese native’s performance in the Simon Task will pose a significant difference.

 

3.0 Research Method

According to Leavy (2017) research design refers to a research framework that provides the research methods and technics that a researcher used.  The study at hand possesses a mixed design since it evaluates between-group components based on the Simon Effect and the between-group components basing on the native language.

Material and Procedures

The research was conducted using software known as PsychoPy 3, where Simon’s task was run on  Personal Computers (Bertamini, 2018). The main reason why the software was used was to help the researcher accurately measure and record the task participants’stimuli on reaction time and accuracy.

The research also used white fixation on the stimulus display with a +++ point and also a white arrow that had an approximate length of 5cm with a height of 2 cm on a black background. The arrows were located 5 cm apart from the central fixation of the horizontal line. Thereafter, the participants were informed that the arrow would be presented to the trials. For the experimental tries, the arrows were situated at the right while during control trials, the arrows would be at the screen center. For the research purposes, the participants would ignore the location of the presented arrows, therefore, meaning that their concentration was based on the arrow’s direction through pressing right or the left keys on the keyboards.

Participants

The research incorporated 52 participants who had a background in Education studies with an addition of two tutors. The number of male to female was 32 by 20, respectively, while the native Chinese speakers were represented by 30 while the native European number was 22. The young adults were represented by 16; old adults were 14, while 22 represented the middle-aged group.

5.0 Discussions

5.1 Results

The main aim of Simon’s task research was to find out whether there will be a Simon effect within-subject components and between-subject components. Therefore the experiment through a controlled selection after a series of trial experiments had the following findings. The results show that through the controlled process in the selection, there was a total protraction development that was noted compared to the adjustment process threshold. Also, it was noted that through cross trails dynamic controls, the feature of integration account was supported more than the conflict adaptation account that had been presented by former results for both compatible and incompatible trials.

5.2 Research Limitation

The major limitation that was experienced during the research was a limited amount of time that did not allow research extension. Also, the number of volunteers was limited, thus compromising the research validity and accuracy since the results were generalized. Some participants also seemed not to give concrete results since they were uncooperative, thus delaying the experiment period.

5.3. Research Strengths

The measurement tool that PsychoPy 3 was very useful software since it gave on-time results, thus proving its accuracy in measuring the expected parameters. Except for the few uncooperative participants, the rest showed interest in making the research successful despite a few limitations.

5.4 Recommendation

I would recommend that next time when search research is commencing, and there should be another plan, especially on the participants, to avoid delaying the study. My recommendation is informed by the fact that, before solving the issues with the uncooperative individuals, time is always wasted, thus decreasing the chance for research validity. As well such issues might also end up compromising results. Some other plans might be signing an affidavit before participating so that the participant can take the issue very seriously.

I would also recommend increasing the number of participants so that the research can cover a wide range of the population. That will lead to assessing more participants, thus maximizing the chances of research validity. Therefore, that recommendation implies that the number of Personal Computers will also increase, thus requiring thorough preparations.

Lastly, I would recommend that the research involves other participants in other departments such as arts, science, and human resource to cover a dynamic range of participants instead of just relying on the education department. Through such engagement, the research will minimize the chances of biasness at all costs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Berroir, P., Ghazi-Saidi, L., Dash, T., Adrover-Roig, D., Benali, H. and Ansaldo, A.I., (2017) ‘Interference control at the response level: Functional networks reveal higher efficiency in the bilingual brain,’ Journal of Neurolinguistics, 43, pp.4-16.

Bertamini, M., (2018) ‘PsychoPy Is Fun’  In Programming Visual Illusions for Everyone (pp. 37-48). Springer, Cham.

Desjardins, J.L. and Fernandez, F., (2018) ‘Performance on Auditory and Visual Tasks of Inhibition in English Monolingual and Spanish–English Bilingual Adults: Do Bilinguals Have a Cognitive Advantage?’,  Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 61(2), pp.410-419.

Dolk, T., and Liepelt, R., (2018) ‘The Multimodal Go-Nogo Simon Effect: Signifying the Relevance of Stimulus Features in the Go-Nogo Simon Paradigm Impacts Event Representations and Task Performance,’ Frontiers in psychology, 9, p.2011.

Erb, C.D., and Marcovitch, S., (2019) ‘Tracking the within‐trial, cross‐trial, and developmental dynamics of cognitive control: Evidence from the Simon task,’ Child Development, 90(6), pp.e831-e848.

Hübner, R. and Töbel, L., (2019) ‘Conflict Resolution in the Eriksen flanker task: Similarities and differences to the Simon task,’ PloS one, 14(3).

Leavy, P., (2017) Research design: Quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods, arts-based, and community-based participatory research approaches.  New York: Guilford Publications.

Narra, M., Heathcote, A. and Finkbeiner, M., (2016) ‘Time course differences between bilinguals and monolinguals in the Simon task,’ Cognitive Control and Consequences of Multilingualism, 2, p.397.

O’Connor, G., (2018) ‘Bialystok’s Bilingual Advantage Hypothesis: the Case of Spanish-English Bilinguals’,  2018 NCUR.

Schlaghecken, F., Blagrove, E., Mantantzis, K., Maylor, E.A., and Watson, D.G., (2017) ‘Look on the bright side: Positivity bias modulates interference effects in the Simon task,’ Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 146(6), p.763.

 

Servant, M., White, C., Montagnini, A. and Burle, B., (2016) ‘Linking theoretical decision-making mechanisms in the Simon task with electrophysiological data: A model-based neuroscience study in humans,’ Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 28(10), pp.1501-1521.

Vaughn, K.A., Archila-Suerte, P. and Hernandez, A.E., (2019) ‘Parietal lobe volume distinguishes attentional control in bilinguals and monolinguals: A structural MRI study,’ Brain and cognition, 134, pp.103-109.

Yamaguchi, M., Wall, H.J. and Hommel, B., (2018) ‘Sharing tasks or sharing actions? Evidence from the joint Simon task.’, Psychological research, 82(2), pp.385-394.