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

• DOI: 10.3758/s13414-014-0656-9
• Publication Date: 2014-03-13T21:35:12Z
• Authors: Cristina Iani; Giacomo Stella; Sandro Rubichi
• Keywords: Male; Analysis of Variance; 05 social sciences; Age Factors; Psychology, Child; Recognition, Psychology; Conflict, Psychological; Inhibition, Psychological; Adaptation, Psychological; Reaction Time; Visual Perception; Cognitive control; Response inhibition; conflict - driven adaptation; Correspondence sequence; Simon effect; Humans; Attention; Female; 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences; Child

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.