Unintentional response priming from verbal action-effect instructions

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Learning and Memory

Background:

• Action-effect learning traditionally relies on bidirectional associations formed through direct experience.
• Previous research focused on learning via actual behavior and sensory perception of consequences.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the role of verbal action-effect instructions in forming action-effect associations.
• To determine if learning can occur without direct behavioral output and perceptual feedback.

Main Methods:

• Two online experiments involving memorizing verbal action-effect instructions.
• Participants completed a speeded categorization task with instructed effects as irrelevant stimuli.
• Response errors and times were analyzed for instruction-compatible versus incompatible responses.

Main Results:

• Verbal action-effect instructions created automatic associations between actions and perceived effects.
• These associations were activated when encountering previously instructed effects.
• Preliminary findings suggest the order of instruction components (perception-action) is crucial.

Conclusions:

• Action-effect learning is achievable through verbal instructions, not solely through direct experience.
• This highlights a flexible learning mechanism independent of specific behavioral outcomes.
• Verbal learning offers a pathway to establish action-effect links without direct action-consequence loops.