Alternative cue and response modalities maintain the Simon effect but impact task performance

2022

Behavioral Sciences

Executive functions are the key ingredient for behaviour regulation. Among them, inhibitory control is one of the main exponents of executive functions, and in the last decades, it has received a good amount of attention thanks to the development of chronometric tasks associated with paradigms that allow exploring human behaviour when the inhibitory component is needed. Among the different paradigms typically used, the Simon and flanker tasks are probably the most popular ones. These have been subjected to modifications in order to assess inhibitory control from different perspectives (e.g., in different samples or in combination with different research techniques). However, its use has been relegated to classical presentation modalities within laboratory settings. The accessibility of virtual reality (VR) technology has opened new research avenues to investigate inhibition control with a high ecological validity while retaining tightly controlled lab conditions and good measurement accuracy. We present two cutting-edge modifications of the standard Simon and flanker tasks that have been adapted to real-world settings using VR and human-like avatars as target stimuli. Our findings show that virtual reality is a credible tool for testing inhibitory control with a high degree of transferability and generalizability to the real world.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Inhibitory Control in the Real World Is Virtually Possible: A Virtual Reality Demonstration

2022

Behavioral Sciences

“…Regardless of the procedure [47,54] or the aim of the study [48,49,55] , none of the previous VR adaptations of the Simon and anker tasks were capable of making the most of the possibilities offered by virtual reality when transferring and testing these tasks in a creative, plausible and realistic way. The current work represents a new ecologically valid alternative for assessing inhibitory control as a relevant construct of executive functions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The most recent adaptation of the anker task consists of projected typographic symbols over panels across a street [48] . In the same line, Gupta and colleagues [49] translated the Simon task to a VR setting, aiming to assess alternative cues, response modalities and VR ergonomics by projecting 2D stimuli through the VR headset. As seen, both tasks have been successfully implemented in VR settings, essentially mimicking 2D scenarios in a 3D context.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing executive functions in the real world is virtually possible

2022

Preprint

Executive functions have become a popular research topic since the beginning of the century. Their central role in our daily routines makes them the most representative form of behaviour regulation. Even though there is no general agreement about how they can be classified, there is common consensus that cognitive scientists need to understand their nature and how they interact to modulate human behaviour. Inhibitory control is one of the main exponents of executive functions, and the last decades have witnessed an exponential increase of studies on the inhibitory component thanks to the development of chronometric tasks associated with paradigms that allowed to explore how humans behave in contexts in which resistance to interference is needed. Among the different paradigms typically used, the Simon and flanker tasks are probably the most popular ones. Since their creation, many variants of these tasks have been developed in order to assess inhibitory control from different perspectives (e.g., in different samples or in combination with different research techniques). However, the use of these tasks has been typically governed by classical presentation modalities within laboratory settings. The accessibility of virtual reality technology has opened new research avenues to explore inhibitory skills using adaptations of classic paradigms such as the Simon and the flanker tasks to real-life contexts or settings. Thanks to virtual reality, research on executive function assessment can be undertaken with increased ecological validity, still ensuring laboratory-like controlled conditions and high precision in the measurements. Relying on this technology, here we present two state-of-the-art adaptations of the classical Simon and flanker tasks reinterpreted and adapted to real-world circumstances. Our results show that virtual reality is a reliable tool to assess inhibitory control that could provide valid experimental data with a high level of real-world transferability and generalizability.

Assessing inhibitory control in the real world is virtually possible: a virtual reality demonstration

2022

Preprint

Executive functions are the key ingredient for behavior regulation. Among them, Inhibitory control is one of main exponents of executive functions, and in the last decades it has received a good amount of attention thanks to the development of chronometric tasks associated with paradigms that allowed exploring human behaviour when the inhibitory component is needed. Among the different paradigms typically used, the Simon and flanker tasks are probably the most popular ones. These have been subjected to modifications in order to assess inhibitory control from different perspectives (e.g., in different samples, or in combination with different research techniques). However, its use has been relegated to classical presentation modalities within laboratory settings. The accessibility of virtual reality (VR) technology has opened new research avenues to explore research on inhibition control assessment with increased ecological validity, still ensuring laboratory-like controlled conditions and high precision in the measurements. Relying on this technology, here we present two state-of-the-art adaptations of the classical Simon and flanker tasks reinterpreted and adapted to real-world circumstances. Our results show that VR is a reliable tool to assess inhibitory control that could provide valid experimental data with a high level of real-world transferability and generalizability.