The microgenesis of action-effect binding

Abstract

Ideomotor theories of human action control assume that performing a movement leads to the automatic integration of the underlying motor pattern with codes of its perceptual consequences. We studied the microgenesis of action-effect integration by varying the mapping of action effects upon actions from trial to trial. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that perceiving a tone repetition systematically affects one's tendency to carry out the response that produced that tone in the previous trial, suggesting that even the unintentional production of a stimulus creates a temporary binding of that stimulus with the action that brought it about. Experiments 3 and 4 extended this finding in suggesting that the integration and/or retrieval of action effects is modulated by attentional factors: Ongoing performance is more impacted by action effects if they are salient or match the current attentional set.