The self in conflict: actors and agency in the mediated sequential Simon task

Abstract

Executive control refers to the ability to withstand interference in order to achieve task goals. The effect of conflict adaptation describes that after experiencing interference, subsequent conflict effects are weaker. However, changes in the source of conflict have been found to disrupt conflict adaptation. Previous studies indicated that this specificity is determined by the degree to which one source causes episodic retrieval of a previous source. A virtual reality version of the Simon task was employed to investigate whether changes in a visual representation of the self would similarly affect conflict adaptation. Participants engaged in a mediated Simon task via 3D “avatar” models that either mirrored the participants’ movements, or were presented statically. A retrieval cue was implemented as the identity of the avatar: switching it from a male to a female avatar was expected to disrupt the conflict adaptation effect (CAE). The results show that only in static conditions did the CAE depend on the avatar identity, while in dynamic conditions, changes did not cause disruption. We also explored the effect of conflict and adaptation on the degree of movement made with the task-irrelevant hand and replicated the reaction time pattern. The findings add to earlier studies of source-specific conflict adaptation by showing that a visual representation of the self in action can provide a cue that determines episodic retrieval. Furthermore, the novel paradigm is made openly available to the scientific community and is described in its significance for studies of social cognition, cognitive psychology, and human–computer interaction.

Not My Problem: Vicarious Conflict Adaptation with Human and Virtual Co-actors

“…Spapé and Hommel ( 2008 ) interpreted the findings as suggesting that the change in voice disrupted episodic recall, thereby eliminating sequence repetition effects. Other irrelevant changes, such as a rotating display of Simon stimuli (Spapé et al, 2011 ; Spape and Hommel, 2014 ) or a change in a self-representing cartoon figure portrayed next to a task (Spapé et al, 2015a ) were likewise found to strongly disrupt conflict adaptation effects.…”

How our body influences our perception of the world

“…Parts of the body that cannot be seen directly and thus have no representation from a first-person perspective, such as the back of the body, may not be regarded as parts of the self in the same way as parts of the body that can be seen directly. However, this can altered by providing an unusual first-person visual view of the back ( Ehrsson, 2007 ; Lenggenhager et al, 2007 ; Spapé et al, 2015 ) demonstrating the role of learning and experience in forming our perception of our “self.” The suggestion that vision determines what is regarded as self either directly or from the view in a mirror, is compatible with our representation of the body in the brain as having only a two-dimensional representation of the torso as shown in Figure 6D .…”