In choice reaction tasks, subjects typically respond faster when the relative spatial positions of stimulus and response correspond than when they do not, even when spatial information is irrelevant to the task (e.g. in the Simon task). Cognitive models attribute the Simon effect to automatic response activation elicited by spatial information, which facilitates or competes with the controlled selection of the correct response as required by task demands. In the present study, we investigated the role of the dorsal premotor cortex (PMd) in response activation and selection during spatial conflict. We applied single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to the PMd of the right and left hemispheres during the execution of a Simon task, at different times after the onset of the visual stimulus. The results showed that TMS produced a different effect on subjects' performance in two separate time windows. When TMS was applied at an early time [160-ms stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA)], we observed suppression of the Simon effect, resulting from a delay of corresponding trials. When TMS was applied at a late time (220 and 250-ms SOA), we observed an increase in the Simon effect, resulting from a delay of non-corresponding trials. These outcomes revealed that the PMd is involved both in the activation of the spatially triggered response and in response selection during spatial conflict.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 3. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 16 December 2014.
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#8,196,435
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Outputs from European Journal of Neuroscience
#2,596
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#110,865
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Outputs of similar age from European Journal of Neuroscience
#23
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Altmetric has tracked 24,558,777 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 43rd percentile – i.e., 43% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 6,057 research outputs from this source. They typically receive more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 7.7. This one is in the 38th percentile – i.e., 38% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 58 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 58% of its contemporaries.
