Anticipated effect valence retrieves matching past responses but does not modulate stimulus-response binding

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Episodic binding and retrieval are crucial cognitive processes.
• The influence of affective valence on these processes is not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how the valence of experienced and anticipated action effects impacts episodic binding and retrieval.
• To determine if affective consequences modulate memory retrieval.

Main Methods:

• Two preregistered experiments with 180 participants.
• Participants responded to word colors, followed by cued positive or negative audio-visual effects.
• Analysis of prime-probe dyads to examine retrieval effects.

Main Results:

• Anticipated effect valence in probes retrieved prime responses with matching valence.
• Both cue perception and anticipation of valence influenced retrieval.
• Word identity repetition also led to response retrieval, independent of effect valence.
• Retrieval effects were not enhanced by experienced or anticipated positive effects, suggesting independence from affective consequences.

Conclusions:

• Anticipated valence plays a role in memory retrieval.
• Binding and retrieval mechanisms appear to operate independently of affective consequences.
• Findings support binary binding models for distractors, responses, and effect valences.