A conceptual replication and extension of the Affective Simon Effect

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to examine the sensitivity of the affective Simon paradigm to the affective connotation of pictures. In a recent experiment carried out by De Houwer and colleagues (De Houwer, Crombez, Baeyens, & Hermans, 2001, experiment 3), participants were asked to respond using the words POSITIVE or NEGATIVE depending on whether a picture depicted a man-made or natural object. Responses to pictures were faster when the valence of the picture matched the required response. The current study replicated this effect when 16 participants were asked to respond using the words NICE and NASTY depending on whether positive or negative pictures were humans or animals. Furthermore, the Affective Simon Effect was found, but reduced in magnitude, when a further 16 participants were asked to respond using the affective nouns COMEDY or CANCER to the same affective pictures.