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Towards a similarity-based account of compatibility effects

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Summary

In three experiments, the role of similarity in compatibility effects was investigated. A flanker task was used, in which two flankers (one to the left and one to the right of a centrally presented target) had opposite values on two or three dimensions. Left-right responses were based on the correspondence between the target and the flankers on one dimension. The other dimensions were irrelevant for the task. Manipulation of the overlap pattern between the target and the flankers showed that response efficiency depended on the similarity of the target to the flankers. The similarity model yielded fairly accurate quantitative predictions of reaction times. The implications of these results for theories of compatibility effects are discussed. It is argued that a similarity-based account may be superior to alternative accounts that rely on the notion of congruity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cognitive Science Research Centre, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, B15 2TT, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK

    Koen Lamberts

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  1. Koen Lamberts
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Lamberts, K. Towards a similarity-based account of compatibility effects. Psychol. Res 56, 136–143 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00419700

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