Compatibility effects between the physical size of stimulus objects and response locations.

在《幅度理论》(Atom)一书中，沃尔什(2003,2015)假设了一个广义的(大脑)系统，用于处理与动作控制相关的不同“幅度”(例如，大小、空间、时间)。Atom预测，这些大小的并行处理应该会导致相容或干扰效应。以往的研究广泛地研究了数字大小和空间位置、数字大小和物理大小的相容和干扰效应，而忽略了物理大小和空间位置同时加工的可能结果。在试点工作中，我们显示了物理刺激大小和水平反应位置之间的相容效应：参与者对(相对)小刺激的左手反应比右反应(手)反应快，而对(相对)大刺激的反应模式则相反。这种刺激大小反应-位置相容效应(以下简称：大小-位置效应)不仅发生在刺激大小与任务相关时，也发生在刺激大小与任务无关时(Seegelke&Wühr，2018；Wühr&Seegelke，2018)。此外，初步结果表明，这种影响发生在右撇子身上，但不发生在左撇子参与者身上。在这里提出的研究项目有三个总体目标。第一个目标是对尺寸-位置相容效应的两种可能解释进行经验性评估。第一种解释源于Proctor和他的同事们提出的极性-对应原理(例如，Proctor&Xong，2015)。第二种解释来自于这样一个事实，即优势手通常比非优势手更强壮(至少在惯用右手的人中是如此)，这可能导致了人们倾向于用优势手抓住更大(通常更重)的物体。该项目的第二个目标是揭示大小-位置相容效应和SNARC效应之间的异同。因此，计划在不同的空间维度上直接比较不同的兼容效果。关于影响的来源是相同的还是不同的，以及影响是出现在相似的还是不同的加工阶段，这些影响之间的共性和差异可能是有益的。该项目的第三个目标是进一步发展ATOM。在目前的形式(例如，Walsh，2015)中，ATOM仅在同时处理刺激大小和响应位置时预测(相互)干扰的存在。但由于缺乏对这一问题的实证研究，ATOM不能很好地说明干扰效应的原因和特征。此外，原子不能解释非空间幅度和空间(位置)信息之间的相容(或一致性)效应的方向。我们的研究项目的结果可能有助于填补这些经验和理论上的空白。

In „A Theory Of Magnitude“ (ATOM), Walsh (2003, 2015) postulates a generalized (brain) system for the processing of different “magnitudes” (e.g., size, space, time) that are relevant for the control of action. ATOM predicts that the concurrent processing of these magnitudes should lead to compatibility or interference effects. Whereas previous research has extensively studied compatibility and interference effects for numerical magnitude and spatial position, and for numerical magnitude and physical size, previous research has neglected the possible consequences of the concurrent processing of physical size and spatial position. In pilot work, we showed a compatibility effect between physical stimulus size and horizontal response position: Participants responded faster to (relatively) small stimuli with the left response (hand) than with the right response (hand), whereas the reverse pattern was observed for (relatively) large stimuli. This stimulus-size response-location compatibility effect (henceforth called: size-location effect) not only occurred when stimulus size was task relevant, but also when stimulus size was task irrelevant (Seegelke & Wühr, 2018; Wühr & Seegelke, 2018). Moreover, preliminary results suggests that the effect occurs for right-handed, but not for left-handed participants. The research project, proposed here, has three general aims. The first aim is to empirically evaluate two possible explanations for the size-location compatibility effect. The first explanation arises from the polarity-correspondence principle proposed by Proctor and colleagues (e.g., Proctor & Xiong, 2015). The second explanation arises from the fact that the dominant hand is usually stronger than the non-dominant hand (at least in right-handed individuals), which might have caused a preference for grasping larger (and often heavier) objects with the dominant hand. The second aim of the project is to uncover similarities and differences between the size-location compatibility effect and the SNARC effect. Therefore, it is planned to directly compare different compatibility effects in different spatial dimensions. Commonalities and differences between the effects might be informative with regard to whether the effects have common or different sources, and whether the effects arise at similar or different stages of processing. The third aim of the project is to further develop ATOM. In its present form (e.g., Walsh, 2015), ATOM merely predicts the existence of (mutual) interference when stimulus size and response location are concurrently processed. But because empirical research on this issue is lacking, ATOM cannot tell much about the causes and characteristics of the interference effects. Moreover, ATOM cannot explain the direction of compatibility (or congruency) effects between non-spatial magnitudes and spatial (location) information. The results of our research project might be useful in filling these empirical and theoretical gaps.