In psychology, the Simon effect refers to the finding that reaction times are usually faster and more accurate when the stimulus occurs in the same relative location as the response, even if the stimulus location is irrelevant to the task. It is named for J. R. Simon who first published the effect in the late 1960s. Simon's original explanation for the effect was that there is an innate tendency to respond toward the source of stimulation.
According to the simple models of information-processing that existed at the time, there are three stages of processing: stimulus identification, response selection, and response execution or the motor stage. The Simon Effect is generally thought to involve interference which occurs in the response-selection stage. This is similar to, yet distinct from, the interference that produces the better-known Stroop effect.
Read more about Simon Effect: Original Experiment, Method, Explanation, Practical Implications
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