Associative memory constraints on the storage and retrieval of action-effect relations

How are motor activities linked to their perceptual outcomes? We here test the idea that the storage and retrieval of action-effect relations is subject to constraints of associative memory. Specifically, we argue that mutual interference between such representations should favor the storage and retrieval of unique (one-to-one) action-effect relations as compared with overlapping (one-to-many) action-effect relations (uniqueness effect). Moreover, we assume that increasing the number of repetitions of action-effect episodes facilitates learning and modulates this uniqueness effect. In three experiments, participants first produced certain visual effects through motor activities and were later asked to retrieve the activity that had produced a certain probed visual effect before. For the most part, retrieval performance increased with an increasing number of action-effect repetitions. Retrieval performance was higher for unique as compared with overlapping action-effect relations if the number of repetitions varied between different action-effect episodes (Experiment 3) but not if it was kept constant (Experiment 1). This uniqueness effect in Experiment 3 was not substantially modulated by the number of action-effect repetitions. Overall, results suggest that the storage and retrieval of action-effect relations are subject to certain associative memory constraints. We discuss these findings against the backdrop of associative and episodic retrieval accounts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).