Freely-selected and forced-choice responses bind with relevant object-occupied locations in visuospatial tasks

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Human Factors

Background:

• Previous research indicates manual responses can bind to irrelevant stimulus features during prime trials.
• These response bindings affect subsequent processing in probe trials.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if response binding is a pervasive characteristic of cognitive processing.
• To examine the binding of uncertain prime-trial responses to stimulus features in a visuospatial task.
• To explore the influence of response binding on later processing, including reaction time and choice selection.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a visuospatial task involving prime and probe trials with varying response uncertainty (free-choice, forced-choice).
• Assessed response binding to relevant spatial features (R-L binding) and irrelevant identity features (R-I binding).
• Analyzed effects on probe trial response selection preferences and reaction time (RT) data.

Main Results:

• Uncertain responses in prime trials demonstrated binding to the relevant spatial location feature (R-L binding).
• R-L binding effects were stronger for within-hand than between-hand probe trials and for choice preferences over RT.
• R-L binding was absent in forced-choice probe trials, and evidence for R-I binding was minimal, potentially suppressed by R-L binding.

Conclusions:

• Response binding appears to be a pervasive cognitive characteristic, even with uncertain responses.
• The manifestation of response binding, particularly R-I binding, can be influenced or prevented by concurrent R-L binding.
• Findings highlight the importance of considering response binding when interpreting reaction time data in cognitive tasks.