Distractor repetitions retrieve previous responses to targets.
Response retrieval theories assume that stimuli and responses become integrated into "event files" (Hommel, 1998) in memory so that a second encounter with a specific stimulus automatically retrieves the response that was previously associated with this stimulus. In this article, we tested a specific prediction of a recent variant of stimulus retrieval theories as introduced by Rothermund, Wentura, and De Houwer (2005): In selection tasks where target stimuli are accompanied by distractors, responses to target stimuli are automatically bound to distractor stimuli as well; repeating the distractor should retrieve the response to the target that formerly accompanied the distractor. In three experiments we confirmed this prediction: Distractor repetition facilitated responding in the probe in the case of response repetition whereas repeating the distractor delayed responding in the case of response change.
Frings
Christian
C
Department of Psychology, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany. c.frings@mx.uni-saarland.de
Rothermund
Klaus
K
Wentura
Dirk
D
D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010507:Periodicity; D010812:Physical Stimulation; D011930:Reaction Time