Binding between Responses is not Modulated by Grouping of Response Effects

Several action control theories postulate that individual responses to stimuli are represented by event files that include temporal bindings between stimulus, response, and effect features. Which stimulus features are bound into an event file can be influenced by stimulus grouping. Here, we investigate whether effect grouping moderates response feature binding. For this purpose, we used an adapted response-response binding paradigm introducing a visual effect after each response. These effects could either appear spatially grouped, i.e., close to each other, or non-grouped, thus far from each other. If effect grouping influences response representation, response-response binding effects should be larger for responses producing grouped effects than for responses producing non-grouped effects. In two experiments, we found no indication for a modulation of response-response binding by effect grouping. The role of effect grouping for binding and retrieval processes seems to differ from past evidence regarding stimulus grouping.