Participants placed the index finger of their dominant hand on the button of a response box and were instructed to press the button as soon as possible after detecting the target. They were told the orientation of the head and the body in the pictures did not predict the side where the target would appear. By combining the cue stimuli with the two target locations (left and right), the directional congruency between the different types of cues and reaction signals was varied. This produced five different stimulus conditions:
1. the body straight/head straight condition included a front view of the head and body followed by a target appearing either to the left or the right of the cue, that is,, the neutral condition;
2. the body congruent/head congruent condition involved the head and body both oriented 40 degrees to the left or the right followed by a target appearing on the same side the head and body were oriented towards;
3. the body incongruent/head incongruent condition involved the head and body both oriented 40 degrees to the left or right followed by a target on the opposite side the head and body were oriented towards;
4. the body straight/head congruent condition included a front view of the body along with the head oriented 40 degrees to the left or right, followed by a target appearing on the same side the head was oriented towards;
5. the body straight/head incongruent condition included a front view of the body with the head oriented 40 degrees to the left or right followed by a target appearing on the opposite side the head was oriented towards.