Word.ws English Dictionary

Simon effect

Simon effect noun: the finding that reactions 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.

Noun

Simon effect (plural Simon effects)

  1. The finding that reactions 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.
    • Studies by Ellen Bialystok at York University in Toronto revealed that bilingual speakers showed a reduced Simon effect compared to monolinguals.2019, Albert Costa, translated by John W. Schwieter, The Bilingual Brain, Penguin, published 2021, page 99

Forms of Simon effect

pluralSimon effects

Origin of Simon effect

Named for J. R. Simon, who first published the effect in the late 1960s.

Questions about Simon effect

What does Simon effect mean?
Simon effect means the finding that reactions 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.
What part of speech is Simon effect?
Simon effect is a noun.
What is the plural of Simon effect?
The plural of Simon effect is Simon effects.

Words near Simon effect in the dictionary

  1. simoleans
  2. simoleon
  3. simoleons
  4. Simolivac
  5. simon
  6. Simon effect
  7. Simon effects
  8. Simon plum
  9. Simon says
  10. Simon system
  11. simon-pure

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Simon effect (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “Simon effect.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/simon_effect. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.