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Related Experiment Videos

Automatic motor activation by mere instruction.

Tom Everaert1, Marijke Theeuwes, Baptist Liefooghe

  • 1Department of Psychology, Ghent University, Henri Dunantlaan 2, 9000, Ghent, Belgium, Tom.Everaert@UGent.be.

Cognitive, Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience
|May 21, 2014
PubMed
Summary

Even irrelevant stimulus-response (S-R) instructions automatically activate intended responses, influencing task performance. This automatic response activation, measured via lateralized readiness potentials (LRPs), suggests a distinct pathway for instructed S-R mappings.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

  • Behavioral studies indicate that stimulus-response (S-R) mapping instructions impact task performance, even when irrelevant.
  • The underlying mechanism of this influence, specifically automatic response activation, remains incompletely understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether instructed S-R mappings lead to automatic activation of corresponding responses.
  • To examine the electrophysiological correlates of this automatic activation using lateralized readiness potentials (LRPs).

Main Methods:

  • Participants performed a task while instructed S-R mappings, irrelevant to the current task, were presented.
  • Lateralized readiness potentials (LRPs) were recorded to measure response activation.

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  • Behavioral data on task performance were also collected.

    • Main Results:

    • Instructed S-R mappings significantly influenced both electrophysiological and behavioral measures.
    • LRPs deflected towards the instructed response, indicating early response activation, particularly on slower trials.
    • No modulation of N2 amplitude by response conflict from instructed S-R mappings was observed.

    Conclusions:

    • Instructed S-R mappings can trigger automatic response activation, similar to learned mappings.
    • This automatic activation may occur through a different neural pathway compared to experienced S-R mappings.
    • Findings contribute to understanding the automaticity of cognitive control and instruction processing.