title: Explicit learning of arbitrary and non-arbitrary action-effect relations in adults and 4-year-olds.
abstract: Ideomotor theories claim that carrying out a movement that produces a perceivable effect creates a bidirectional association between the two, which can then be used by action control processes to retrieve the associated action by anticipating its outcome. Previous implicit-learning studies have shown that practice renders novel but action-contingent stimuli effective retrieval cues of the action they used to follow, suggesting that experiencing sequences of actions and effects creates bidirectional action-effect associations. We investigated whether action-effect associations are also acquired under explicit learning conditions and whether familiar action-effect relations (such as between a trumpet and a trumpet sound) are learned the same way as novel, arbitrary relations are. We also investigated whether these factors affect adults and 4-year-old children equally. Findings suggest that explicit learning produces the same bidirectional action-effect associations as implicit-learning does, that non-arbitrary relations improve performance without affecting learning per se, and that adults and young children show equivalent performance - apart from the common observation that children have greater difficulty to withstand stimulus-induced action tendencies.
authors.affiliation: Leiden University Institute for Psychological Research and Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition Leiden, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Stephan A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Verschoor
authors.forename: Rena M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Eenshuistra
authors.forename: Jutta
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kray
authors.forename: Szilvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Biro
authors.forename: Bernhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hommel