Affective evaluation of self-produced action-effect episodes

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Affective Science
• Behavioral Neuroscience

Background:

• Goal-directed behavior relies on predictable action outcomes.
• Expected action effects are known to enhance performance, but underlying mechanisms are debated.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if action effect expectancy influences the affective evaluation of action-effect episodes.
• To explore the role of affect in mediating the relationship between action outcome predictability and performance.

Main Methods:

• Six preregistered online experiments (N=702) were conducted.
• Participants responded to stimuli, generating high or low expectancy action effects.
• Affect was measured using implicit (affective priming) and explicit (valence ratings) methods.

Main Results:

• High-expectancy action-effect episodes consistently elicited more positive affect than low-expectancy episodes.
• This effect persisted on implicit measures, except when stimulus-response-effect correspondence was minimized.
• The findings were robust, ruling out visual mismatch and likelihood as sole explanations.

Conclusions:

• Expected action outcomes generate positive affect, offering a simpler explanation for performance advantages.
• Affective evaluation of action-effect episodes is a fundamental mechanism in behavior regulation.
• This mechanism likely operates across diverse psychological domains, from basic action control to complex behaviors.