To examine the assumptions of the embodied account of language comprehension, many studies make use of behavioral paradigms involving basic compatibility effects. The literature shows that these compatibility effects can be modulated significantly by experimental features. Using a Stroop-like language-space compatibility effect, we investigated the influence of the demand of the response selection stage on the size of the compatibility effect. We successively reduced the demand of the response selection in three experiments. Across all experiments, words associated with a position in vertical space (up vs. down) were shown in different font colors. The font color indicated the direction of the response action. Experiments 1 and 2 employed a two-choice response selection (up vs. down response). Experiment 3 reduced the demand in the response selection stage by introducing a go/no-go task, participants were required to either withhold a response or select an upward (or downward, depending on the block) response. A significant compatibility effect was found in Experiment 1 and 2, but not in Experiment 3. This suggests that at least a two-choice response selection is needed to observe a language-space compatibility effect. In a fourth experiment we replicated the results of Experiment 1 and 3, confirming that the nature of the response selection plays a crucial role in the Stroop-like language-space compatibility effect.