On the relationship between affordance and Simon effects: Are the effects really independent?

The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between the Affordance effect (i.e., the advantage for responses corresponding spatially with the location of an object’s graspable part) and the Simon effect (i.e., the advantage for responses corresponding spatially with stimulus location) and to assess whether they both occur at the response selection stage. In two experiments participants were required to respond according to the vertical orientation (upward or inverted) of photographs of graspable objects, located to the left or right of fixation, with their handles oriented to the right or left. In Experiment 1 the response consisted in a button-press, while in Experiment 2 it consisted in a reaching movement. Our results showed that both Simon and Affordance effects emerged in response times but not in movement times. While in Experiment 1, the two effects did not interact, a clear interaction emerged in Experiment 2. These results seem to suggest that the interaction between Simon and Affordance effects may depend on the type of required action.