Contextual Similarity Between Successive Targets Modulates Inhibition of Return in the Target-Target Paradigm

Responding, fast and slow: Visual detection and localization performance is unaffected by retrieval

According to action control theories, responding to a stimulus leads to the binding of the response and stimulus features into an event file. Repeating any component of the latter retrieves previous information, affecting ongoing performance. Based on years of attentional orienting research, recent boundaries of such binding theories have been proposed as binding effects are fully absent in visual detection (e.g., Schöpper et al., 2020, Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 82(4), 2085-2097) and localization (e.g., Schöpper & Frings, 2022; Visual Cognition, 30(10), 641-658) performance. While this can be attributed to specific task demands, the possibility remains that retrieval of previous event files is hampered in such tasks due to overall fast responding. In the current study we instructed participants to signal the detection (Experiment 1) and location (Experiment 2) of dots orthogonally repeating or changing their nonspatial identity and location. Crucially, the dots were either hard or easy to perceive. As expected, making targets hard to perceive drastically slowed down detection and localization response speed. Importantly, binding effects were absent irrespective of perceptibility. In contrast, discriminating the nonspatial identity of targets (Experiment 3) showed strong binding effects. These results highlight the impact of task-dependence for binding approaches in action control.

Bound to a spider without its web: Task-type modulates the retrieval of affective information in subsequent responses

Action control theories assume that upon responding to a stimulus response and stimulus features are integrated into a short episodic memory trace; repeating any component spurs on retrieval, affecting subsequent performance. The resulting so-called "binding effects" are reliably observed in discrimination tasks. In contrast, in localization performance, these effects are absent and only inhibition of return (IOR) emerges - a location change benefit. Affective information has been found to modulate binding effects; yet a modulation of IOR has led to mixed results, with many finding no influence at all. In the current study, participants discriminated letters (Experiment 1) or localized dots (Experiment 2) on a touchpad in prime-probe sequences. During the prime display two images - one with fruits and one with a spider - appeared, one of which spatially congruent with the to-be-touched area. In the discrimination task, previously touching a spider compared to a fruit slowed down response repetitions. In contrast, the localization task only showed IOR. This suggests that task-irrelevant valence is integrated with the response and affects subsequent responses due to retrieval. However, this is not ubiquitous but depends on task type. The results shed further light on the impact of affective information on actions.

Same, but different: Binding effects in auditory, but not visual detection performance

Responding to a stimulus leads to the integration of response and stimulus' features into an event file. Upon repetition of any of its features, the previous event file is retrieved, thereby affecting ongoing performance. Such integration-retrieval explanations exist for a number of sequential tasks (that measure these processes as 'binding effects') and are thought to underlie all actions. However, based on attentional orienting literature, Schöpper, Hilchey, et al. (2020) could show that binding effects are absent when participants detect visual targets in a sequence: In visual detection performance, there is simply a benefit for target location changes (inhibition of return). In contrast, Mondor and Leboe (2008) had participants detect auditory targets in a sequence, and found a benefit for frequency repetition - presumably reflecting a binding effect in auditory detection performance. In the current study, we conducted two experiments, that only differed in the modality of the target: Participants signaled the detection of a sound (N = 40) or of a visual target (N = 40). Whereas visual detection performance showed a pattern incongruent with binding assumptions, auditory detection performance revealed a non-spatial feature repetition benefit, suggesting that frequency was bound to the response. Cumulative reaction time distributions indicated that the absence of a binding effect in visual detection performance was not caused by overall faster responding. The current results show a clear limitation to binding accounts in action control: Binding effects are not only limited by task demands, but can entirely depend on target modality.

Attention modulates the contextual similarity effect in negative priming: evidence from task demand and attentional capture

Negative priming refers to the delayed response to a probe target that was previously a prime distractor. Memory retrieval has been proposed as one critical mechanism for the manifestation of negative priming. This perspective perpetuates that the contextual similarity between prime and probe trials should modulate memory retrieval, and therefore, affect negative priming. However, evidence for the contextual similarity effect in negative priming is mixed. The present study tested the hypothesis that attended contextual cues are more likely to be encoded into a distractor representation, and thus, are more likely to modulate the negative priming effect. By manipulating whether the contextual cues were relevant to the task demand in Section 1, and by manipulating whether cues had an abrupt or simultaneous onset, and by analysing reaction time (RT) distributions of the data in Section 2, our results demonstrated that attended cues produced the contextual similarity effect in negative priming, especially when RTs were long.

Location-response binding and inhibition of return in a detection task

In the present study, we investigated the binding of location and response in a detection task of the target-target paradigm of inhibition of return (IOR). Results showed a cost of responding to a target at the repeated location (IOR) when the response was not repeated and an effect of facilitation of return (FOR) when the response was repeated. These findings suggest that when responding to a target, its location and the response to it are integrated together. In addition, an analysis of the Vincentized cumulative response time (RT) distribution further showed that memory retrieval of event representations requires time to operate. These findings were discussed according to the theoretical framework of event files.