When Affordance is not Universal: Negative Compatibility Effect Requires Spatial Association
Tue—HZ_7—Talks5—4301
Presented by: Nilay Türkan
Research shows that graspable objects trigger motor responses aligned with their orientation, known as the object affordance effect. Vainio et al. (2011) demonstrated that this facilitatory effect is inhibited (negative compatibility effect, NCE) when a compatible prime object is presented shortly before the target. However, task demands strongly modulate how responses are executed (e.g., Schöpper & Frings, 2024). Building on this, we hypothesized that while recent research highlights the role of prime onset, the affordance effect on motor responses also varies with task constraints. In Experiment 1, we tested this hypothesis with three tasks: discrimination of arrow direction, shape discrimination, and circle localization. The time interval between the affordance object (a mug) and target onset (SOAs: 30, 70, 170, 370 ms plus 50 ms blank screen), as well as the compatibility between the mug and response (compatible vs. incompatible), were identical across tasks. In the arrow task, we replicated the standard pattern: participants reacted slower in compatible trials at early SOAs. In contrast, shape discrimination showed no effect, while circle localization revealed a positive compatibility effect (PCE). To explore the PCE in circle localization, we conducted Experiment 2, manipulating the circle's position relative to the central point (near vs. far). In this experiment, we did not find the PCE but replicated NCE for both circle positions. Our results suggest that inhibitory mechanisms influence reactions only for features related to spatial associations. In other words, responses based on shapes without spatial connotations are not affected by this inhibitory process.
Keywords: Motor inhibition-facilitation, Affordance, Task dependency, Stimulus–response compatibility