The power of words: On item-specific stimulus-response associations formed in the absence of action.
Research on stimulus-response (S-R) associations as the basis of behavioral automaticity has a long history. Traditionally, it was assumed that S-R associations are formed as a consequence of the (repeated) co-occurrence of stimulus and response, that is, when participants act upon stimuli. Here, we demonstrate that S-R associations can also be established in the absence of action. In an item-specific priming paradigm, participants either classified everyday objects by performing a left or right key press (task-set execution) or they were verbally presented with information regarding an object's class and associated action while they passively viewed the object (verbal coding). Both S-R associations created by task-set execution and by verbal coding led to the later retrieval of both the stimulus-action component and the stimulus-classification component of S-R associations. Furthermore, our data indicate that both associations created by execution and by verbal coding are temporally stable and rather resilient against overwriting. The automaticity of S-R associations formed in the absence of action reveals the striking adaptability of human action control. (PsycINFO Database Record
Cognition, Action, and Sustainability Unit, Department of Psychology, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg.
Christina U
CU
Pfeuffer
Laboratoire Psychologie de la Perception, Université Paris Descartes.
Karolina
K
Moutsopoulou
Department of Psychology III, University of Würzburg.
Roland
R
Pfister
Laboratoire Psychologie de la Perception, Université Paris Descartes.
Florian
F
Waszak
Cognition, Action, and Sustainability Unit, Department of Psychology, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg.
Andrea
A
Kiesel
D000328:Adult; D001245:Association Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult