THE INFLUENCE OF IRRELEVANT LOCATION INFORMATION ON PERFORMANCE - A REVIEW OF THE SIMON AND SPATIAL STROOP EFFECTS

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of irrelevant l ocation information on performance of visual choice-reaction tasks. We review empirical findings and theoretical explanations from two domai ns, those of the Simon effect and the spatial Stroop effect, in which stimulus location has been shown to affect reaction time when irreleva nt to the task. We then integrate the findings and explanations from t he two domains to clarify how and why stimulus location influences per formance even when it is uninformative to the correct response. Factor s that influence the processing of irrelevant location information inc lude response modality, relative timing with respect to the relevant i nformation, spatial coding, and allocation of attention. The most prom ising accounts are offered by models in which response selection is a function of (1) strength of association of the irrelevant stimulus inf ormation with the response and (2) temporal overlap of the resulting r esponse activation with that produced by the relevant stimulus informa tion.