Academic literature on the topic 'Spatial response correspondence'

Five experiments investigated whether cognitively based spatial S-R correspondence effects or “compatibility” effects can occur in simple reaction time (SRT) tasks and if so, which factors might be responsible for their occurrence and size. In Experiment 1, responses were cued before each trial, but made only after presentation of a Go signal. There were considerably faster responses with spatial correspondence of Go signal and response, demonstrating that response certainty does not prevent a compatibility effect. Experiment 2, a SRT task with “extra” trials requiring responses with the same or the opposite hand, indicated a major determinant of this effect to be the keeping of two task-relevant responses in a state of readiness. Experiment 3 provided preliminary evidence for “inertia” effects—that is, for stronger correspondence effects with frequent than with infrequent alternations between left-hand and right-hand blocks. Experiment 4 showed that correspondence effects can be obtained by using a within-hand response repertoire. Experiment 5, a replication of Experiment 3 with within-hand responses, found further evidence for inertia effects. For all experiments, reaction time distribution analyses were carried out to gain insight into the temporal dynamics of correspondence effects. Altogether the results strongly suggest that most if not all correspondence effects had a cognitive rather than an anatomical origin. This raises some doubts about conclusions from prior attempts to measure interhemispheric transmission costs by means of SRT tasks.

Tucker and Ellis found that when participants made left/right button-presses to indicate whether objects were upright or inverted, responses were faster when the response hand aligned with the task-irrelevant handle orientation of the object. The effect of handle orientation on response times has been interpreted as evidence that individuals perceive grasp affordances when viewing briefly presented objects, which in turn activate grasp-related motor systems. Although the effect of handle alignment has since been replicated, there remains doubt regarding the extent to which the effect is indeed driven by affordance perception. Objects that feature in affordance-compatibility paradigms are asymmetrical and have laterally protruding handles (e.g., mugs) and thus confound spatial and affordance properties. Research has attempted to disentangle spatial compatibility and affordance effects with varying results. In this study, we present a novel paradigm with which to study affordance perception while sidestepping spatial confounds. We use the Bimanual Affordance Task (BMAT) to test whether object affordances in symmetrical objects facilitate response times. Participants ( N = 36) used one of three (left unimanual/right unimanual/bimanual) responses to indicate the colour of presented objects. Objects afforded either a unimanual (e.g., handbag) or a bimanual (e.g., laundry hamper) grasp. Responses were faster when the afforded grasp corresponded with the response type (unimanual vs. bimanual), suggesting that affordance effects exist independent of spatial compatibility.

Neurons in the visual cortex respond selectively to stimulus orientation and spatial frequency. Changes in response amplitudes of these neurons could be the neurophysiological basis of orientation and spatial frequency discrimination. We have estimated the minimum differences in stimulus orientation and spatial frequency that can produce reliable changes in the responses of individual neurons in cat visual cortex. We compare these values with orientation and spatial frequency discrimination thresholds determined behaviorally. Slopes of the tuning functions and response variability determine the minimum orientation and spatial frequency differences that can elicit a reliable response change. These minimum values were obtained from single cells using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. The average minimum orientation and spatial frequency differences that could be signaled reliably by cells from our sample were 6.4 degrees (n = 22) and 21.3% (n = 18), respectively. These values are approximately 0.20 of the average full tuning width at one-half height of the cells. Although these average values are well above the behaviorally determined thresholds, the most selective cells signaled orientation and frequency differences of 1.84 degrees and 5.25%, respectively. These values are of the same order of magnitude as the behavioral thresholds. We show that, because of slow fluctuations in a cell's responsivity, ROC analysis overestimates response variability. We estimate that these slow response fluctuations elevated our estimates of single cell “thresholds” by, on average, 30%. Our data point to an approximate correspondence between orientation and spatial frequency discrimination “thresholds” determined behaviorally and those estimated from the most selective single cortical cells. Interpretation of this quantitative correspondence is considered in the discussion.

The present study aimed at investigating the processing stage underlying stimulus–stimulus (S–S) congruency effects by examining the relation of a particular type of congruency effect (i.e., the flanker effect) with a stimulus–response (S–R) spatial correspondence effect (i.e., the Simon effect). Experiment 1 used a unilateral flanker task in which the flanker also acted as a Simon-like accessory stimulus. Results showed a significant S–S Congruency × S–R Correspondence interaction: An advantage for flanker–response spatially corresponding trials was observed in target–flanker congruent conditions, whereas, in incongruent conditions, there was a noncorresponding trials’ advantage. The analysis of the temporal trend of the correspondence effects ruled out a temporal-overlap account for the observed interaction. Moreover, results of Experiment 2, in which the flanker did not belong to the target set, demonstrated that this interaction cannot be attributed to perceptual grouping of the target–flanker pairs and referential coding of the target with respect to the flanker in the congruent and incongruent conditions, respectively. Taken together, these findings are consistent with a response selection account of congruency effects: Both the position and the task-related attribute of the flanker would activate the associated responses. In noncorresponding-congruent trials and corresponding-incongruent trials, this would cause a conflict at the response selection stage.

Abstract. Previous research indicated that congruency between stimulus location and response position (spatial stimulus-response correspondence [SRC]) and stimulus motion and response movement congruency (motion SRC) are distinct SRC phenomena. This study further explored this issue and tested whether these two SRC effects are independent. This was conducted by investigating these two SRC effects in a single task. A stimulus with leftward or rightward motion was presented on the left or the right side of the screen and the participant had to move the joysticks held with the left and right hands leftward or rightward in response to the stimulus color. In this setting, the stimulus and response shared two types of correspondence: spatial and motion. The results demonstrated that two SRC effects occurred and interacted (interaction evident only in reaction times [RTs]). RT distribution analysis and accuracy delta plots for each SRC effect indicated that spatial and motion SRC are distinct phenomena based on different processes.

The stereo correspondence problem poses a challenge to visual neurons because localized receptive fields potentially cause false responses. Neurons in the primary visual cortex (V1) partially resolve this problem by combining excitatory and suppressive responses to encode binocular disparity. We explored the time course of this combination in awake, monkey V1 neurons using subspace mapping of receptive fields. The stimulus was a binocular noise pattern constructed from discrete spatial frequency components. We forward correlated the firing of the V1 neuron with the occurrence of binocular presentations of each spatial frequency component. The forward correlation yielded a complete set of response time courses to every combination of spatial frequency and interocular phase difference. Some combinations produced suppressive responses. Typically, if an interocular phase difference for a given spatial frequency produced strong excitation, we saw suppression in response to the opposite interocular phase difference at lower spatial frequencies. The suppression was delayed relative to the excitation, with a median difference in latency of 7 ms. We found that the suppressive mechanism explains a well-known mismatch of monocular and binocular signals. The suppressive components increased power at low spatial frequencies in disparity tuning, whereas they reduced the monocular response to low spatial frequencies. This long-recognized mismatch of binocular and monocular signals reflects a suppressive mechanism that helps reduce the response to false matches.

In the Simon task, a conflict arises because irrelevant spatial information competes for response selection either facilitating or interfering with performance. Responses are faster when stimulus and response position correspond than when they do not. The FEFs, which have long been characterized for their role in oculomotor control, are also involved in the control of visuospatial attention when eye movements are not required. This study was aimed at investigating whether the FEFs contribute to spatial conflict. Double-pulse TMS was applied to the FEF of either left or right hemisphere during the execution of a Simon task at different time windows after the onset of the visual stimulus. A suppression of the Simon effect was observed after stimulation of the FEF for stimuli appearing in the contralateral hemifield when TMS was applied to the left hemisphere after stimulus onset (0–40 and 40–80 msec). A reduction of the correspondence effect was observed after right FEF TMS for stimuli presented in the left visual hemifield when stimulation was delivered in the 80–120 msec range after stimulus onset. These outcomes indicate that the FEF play a critical role in encoding spatial attribute of a stimulus for response priming, which is the prerequisite for response conflict in the Simon task. Moreover, our finding that the left FEF have a dominant role during spatial conflict extends the idea of the left-hemisphere lateralization of the motor network in action selection by suggesting that the FEF may constitute part of this network.

The aim of this dissertation was twofold: (1) to examine task co-representation and joint action in efforts to identify necessary preconditions under which shared representations are formed and (2) to determine whether alternative explanations can account for the social Simon effect (SE). Using joint Simon effect protocols (e.g., Sebanz & Knoblich 2003), we began (Study 1) by showing that when paired participants responded to the same stimulus-response alternative, the joint SE was absent. When participants performed under a competitive context (Study 2), the joint SE was elicited, even though co-representation would have been disadvantageous with respect to the task goal. Next, we examined the influence of spatial and response discrimination factors on the joint action correspondence effect. Our first investigation (Study 3) did not support the assumption that the co-actor may be providing a reference for the spatial coding of alternative responses. Using Ansorge and Wühr’s (2004) response discrimination hypothesis as a framework, we showed in subsequent studies (Study 4 & 6) that a SE could be elicited in a Go/No-Go task when spatial codes were used to discriminate between alternative responses. This was demonstrated when a standard 2-choice task preceded a Go/No-Go task and when participants performed two independent tasks alongside each other. Examination of event-related potentials pertaining to action inhibition suggested reduced action suppression on no-go trials when performing with a co-actor compared to performing with alone under these independent task conditions. In a final study (Study 7), we explored task co-representation using a different experimental paradigm—the response-precuing task. Our results did not provide clear evidence for task co-representation. In cases where the ‘social’ SE was not observed, we propose that a form of ‘social loafing’ or an individualistic mindset approach to the joint action task may have been in operation. Our overall findings encourage further investigation of how task context can modulate the joint SE and highlights how an individualistic mindset can potentially preclude co-representation.

2012/2013
This thesis aimed to investigate the spatial association for different music parameters through four experimental studies, showing consistent SNARC-like effects for note height, note value/duration, music tempo and pitch height. Visually presented notes on the stave showed relatively low/high notes to be associated to left/right response key-presses in musicians with formal education, while no signs of such an association were found in amateur musicians. A further experiment revealed that the direction of the association is constant among musicians and is not influenced by the disposition of notes on the keyboard of specific instruments (i.e., piano and flute). Note value/duration showed to be spatially coded when duration magnitude was processed directly, while no such evidence was revealed in the order-irrelevant task. The direction of the association surprisingly revealed a reversed pattern from the expected one, namely large duration values were coupled with left key-presses, while the opposite was true for small duration values. This evidence seems to support the predominance of over-learned ordinal sequences as opposed to stimuli's magnitude, in the spatial association effects. Auditory presented beat sequences showed to be spatially coded even in non musicians. Indeed, participants revealed a left/right key-press advantage for relatively slow/fast music tempo when tempo processing was mandatory, while no evidence of a spatial association appeared in the order-irrelevant task (i.e., timbre judgment). Evidence of a spatial association in non musicians suggests that experience with tempo is widespread among the population and its influence overcomes the music domain. The spatial association for pitch height was assessed through an alternative response coding to close and far key-presses, instead of the classically used left-right key-presses. Results showed a relative advantage for close responses to middle-range pitches with piano timbre, suggesting a linear representation for piano tones. However, further investigations are needed to certainly discriminate predictions based on different theoretical accounts. Overall, this thesis provides a complete review of the spatial association for musical stimuli, showing that various parameters of music share many features in common with numbers, ordinal sequences and other magnitudes. Furthermore, music showed to be an interesting domain for investigating more general properties that require interactions among time, space and quantity.
Questa tesi si pone l'obiettivo di studiare l'associazione spaziale per diversi parametri musicali attraverso quattro studi sperimentali, dimostrando consistenti evidenze di effetti simil-SNARC per l'altezza delle note, il valore/durata delle note, il tempo musicale e l'altezza tonale. Le note, presentate visivamente sul pentagramma, hanno indicato un vantaggio nella risposta con il tasto sinistro/destro per le note gravi/acute in musicisti che hanno svolto studi formali, mentre non ci sono state evidenze di quest'associazione nei musicisti amatoriali. Un esperimento successivo ha rivelato che la direzione dell'associazione è costante tra i musicisti e non è, dunque, influenzata dalla disposizione delle note in strumenti specifici (nel nostro caso, pianoforte e flauto traverso). Il valore/durata delle note ha dimostrato di essere codificato spazialmente quando veniva richiesto un processamento di tipo esplicito, mentre non ci sono evidenze in proposito nel compito indiretto. Sorprendentemente, la direzione dell'associazione ha mostrato un andamento inverso rispetto a quello atteso, ovvero valori di durata maggiore erano associati a risposte con il tasto sinistro, mentre l'opposto avveniva per valori di durata minore. Quindi, negli effetti di associazione spaziale, ciò sembra supportare la preponderanza della direzione di apprendimento nelle sequenze ordinali rispetto al valore intrinseco della magnitudo degli stimoli. Anche le sequenze acustiche di battiti hanno dimostrato di essere codificate spazialmente, perfino in soggetti non musicisti. Infatti, i partecipanti hanno evidenziato un vantaggio nella risposta con il tasto sinistro/destro per tempi musicali lenti/veloci quando veniva loro chiesto di elaborare esplicitamente il tempo musicale, mentre non sono state trovate tracce di un'associazione spaziale nel compito indiretto (giudizio sul timbro). L'esistenza di un'associazione spaziale nei non musicisti suggerisce che l'esperienza con il tempo sia largamente diffusa nella popolazione e che la sua influenza prevarichi il puro dominio musicale. L'associazione spaziale per i toni musicali è stata investigata con una codifica alternativa dei tasti di risposta, ovvero "vicino" e "lontano" rispetto alla classica codifica "sinistra/destra". I risultati mostrano un vantaggio per le risposte eseguite con il tasto "vicino" per i toni intermedi con timbro di pianoforte, indicando una possibile rappresentazione lineare, piuttosto che dicotomica, per i toni del pianoforte. Ciononostante, ulteriori indagini sono necessarie per discriminare con maggiore certezza le previsioni derivanti dalle diverse teorie esistenti in quest'ambito. Concludendo, questa tesi fornisce una complessa panoramica sul fenomeno dell'associazione spaziale degli stimoli musicali, dimostrando come diversi parametri musicali presentino caratteristiche comuni con i numeri, le sequenza ordinali ed altre tipologie di magnitudo. Inoltre, il dominio della musica ha confermato di essere un proficuo campo di ricerca per investigare le proprietà generali degli stimoli che richiedono l'interazione tra tempo, spazio e quantità.
XXVI Ciclo
1985

Several researchers have claimed that passively viewing manipulable objects results in automatic motor activation of affordances regardless of intention to act upon an object. Support for the automatic activation account stems primarily from findings using stimulus-response compatibility paradigms in which responses are fastest when there is correspondence between one’s response hand and an object’s handle. Counter to this view is the spatial coding account, which suggests that past findings are a result of abstract spatial codes stemming from salient object properties and their left-right correspondence with responses. Although there is now considerable support for this account, there has been little attention paid to determining whether evidence in favor of the automatic activation account will be evident after accounting for the spatial issues demonstrated by the spatial coding account.

The present study involved five experiments conducted to bridge this gap in two steps. First, I aimed to demonstrate the importance of considering spatial issues and left-right correspondence when studying object-based motor activation by numerous objects championed by past researchers who attempted to similarly address the aforementioned issue (Experiments 1 and 2). Second, I sought to determine whether evidence favoring the automatic activation account could be obtained when the possibility for left-right correspondence was absent in a novel set of stimuli created specifically for this purpose (Experiments 3, 4, and 5).

Experiment 1 examined a stimulus set that some researchers have suggested can more definitively tease apart evidence for automatic activation from the influence of spatial factors studies. Experiment 2 was more narrowly focused and investigated a single object presented in different horizontal orientations. These experiments effectively demonstrated the importance of giving more consideration to the nature of the stimuli used in object-based compatibility studies and how they are presented. The results of Experiment 1 suggest that a stimulus set that has been claimed to sidestep spatial confounds does not, in fact, do so. Moreover, Experiment 2 demonstrated that performance could be influenced by simple rotation of the object to which a response was required.

Having established the importance of controlling the stimuli used to investigate automatic activation of afforded responses, I turned to determining whether a novel stimulus set would yield findings favoring the automatic activation account even after accounting for left-right correspondence (Experiments 3, 4, and 5). Three sets of novel object stimuli were developed that do not allow for left-right correspondence and could iteratively assess support for the automatic activation account based on criteria for activation that have been put forth in the literature. The three sets of stimuli contained no information about shape nor functionality (i.e., silhouette iteration) or information about shape and functionality (i.e., functional iteration), or they were an intermediate between the two other types (i.e., intermediate iteration).

Critically, the three latter experiments progressively approached the conditions that researchers have suggested are ideal for automatic activation of afforded responses to occur. Experiment 3 tasked participants with completing a color discrimination task in which they viewed only one of the three object iterations and responded with button presses. Experiment 4 used the same experimental configuration, but instead, required participants to respond with a grasping response. Finally, Experiment 5 required participants to complete a reach-and-grasp response in an object discrimination task using both the silhouette and functional iterations.

Across Experiments 3, 4, and 5, no support for the automatic activation account of afforded responses was found. Although the automatic activation account would predict that individuals should be fastest at responding to the functional stimuli than to the other two object iterations, no such evidence was observed. Given that the possibility for left-right correspondence was removed from the novel stimulus set studied here, these results provide indirect support for the spatial coding account of prior results and further indicate that past findings favoring the automatic activation account have largely been a result of left-right correspondence.

Chapter 3 considers the first English-language higher spatial fiction, Edwin Abbott Abbott’s Flatland (1884). Flatland marks a crucial juncture in the n-dimensional turn, a deceptively complex and playful literary response that inserted the palpably difficult idea of higher-dimensional space into the cultural sphere. This chapter disinters its satirical forebears and works through the criticism of the text in an effort to construct a usable critical paradigm, focusing on pedagogy, rhetoric, imagination, and space. It analyses the play with analogy of Flatland, and how it may consider its own functioning as a model. Considering at some length A Square’s continuation of the text into post-publication correspondence, a meta-textual ploy that works to expand the text dimensionally, constituting new dimensions of reading in other locations, it argues that Flatland is an active participant in modelled higher dimensionality.

AbstractTactile sharing with others facilitates improving communications and augmenting cooperative tasks. An increase of persons sharing tactile sensations increases the effectiveness whereas the area of tactile stimuli given should be investigated for intuitive perception. This study investigated the effect of spatial correspondence between tactile and visual stimuli in identifying tactile stimuli. In the experiment, participants viewed simultaneously two videos of other agents’ hands each rubbing one of three textures and felt their vibrotactile stimuli in two locations. The videos were presented at different locations on the screen (Scene 1$$:$$ : left-right side or Scene 2 & 3$$:$$ : top-bottom) and the vibrotactile stimuli were presented either at the wrists of the left and right hand (Scene 1) or at the upper arm and the wrist of the right arm which either rested on the table (Scene 2) or was hanging down along the body (Scene 3). For each scene, visual and tactile stimuli were either spatially aligned (left and right video with tactile stimuli at the left and right wrist, and top and bottom video with top and bottom location on the right arm) or not. The result showed shorter response times for left-right spatial correspondence and for far (top) and close (bottom) visual stimuli corresponding to distal (wrist) and proximal (upper arm) locations on the body. This implied that the body schematic is an important factor for spatial compatibility of visual and tactile stimuli.

Habitat analysis is strictly defined as a statistical examination to identify the environmental variables that a species associates with, wherein association is taken as some form of correspondence between a species response variable (e.g., presence–absence or abundance) and the environmental variables. There are other statistical techniques and empirical goals that extend this basic framework. These techniques often rely on a habitat analysis having been conducted as an initial step. Resource selection functions quantify an individual’s and a species’ use of a resource based upon the properties of the resource. Resource is broadly defined and can include particular types of habitat. Selectivity and preference indices are used to assess an individual’s preference and active choice of different resource types. Compositional data analysis is a statistical method for examining the composition of an individual’s territory or home range with regard to different habitat types that may be represented. Habitat suitability modeling and species distribution modeling are closely related techniques designed to map the spatial distribution of a species’ habitat and sometimes the species itself based upon its habitat requirements and other factors.

We study the dynamics of a cantilever beam vibrating between two rigid stops of specified clearance at its free end by performing nonlinear system identification (NSI) based on the correspondence between analytical and empirical slow-flow dynamics. First, we perform empirical mode decomposition (EMD) on the acceleration responses measured at ten, almost evenly-spaced, spanwise positions along the beam, leading to sets of intrinsic modal oscillators governing the vibro-impact dynamics at different time scales. In particular, the EMD analysis can separate nonsmooth effects caused by vibro-impacts of the beam and the rigid stops from the smooth (elastodynamic) response, so that nonlinear modal interactions caused by vibro-impacts can be explored through the remaining smooth components. Then, we establish nonlinear interaction models (NIMs) for the respective intrinsic modal oscillators, determined from the intrinsic mode functions of the EMD, where the NIMs invoke slowly-varying forcing amplitudes that can be computed from empirical slow-flows. By comparing the spatio-temporal variations of the nonlinear modal interactions for the vibro-impact beam and those of the underlying linear model, we demonstrate that vibro-impacts significantly influence the lower frequency modes by introducing spatial modal distortions, whereas the higher frequency modes tend to retain their linear dynamics between impacts. Finally, we demonstrate that the proposed NSI method can extract spatio-temporal nonlinear modes, as further method development moves toward structural health monitoring and damage detection.