Abstract
Ideomotor theories claim that carrying out a movement that produces a perceivable effect creates a bidirectional association between the two, which can then be used by action control processes to retrieve the associated action by anticipating its outcome. Previous implicit-learning studies have shown that practice renders novel but action-contingent stimuli effective retrieval cues of the action they used to follow, suggesting that experiencing sequences of actions and effects creates bidirectional action–effect associations. We investigated whether action–effect associations are also acquired under explicit learning conditions and whether familiar action–effect relations (such as between a trumpet and a trumpet sound) are learned the same way as novel, arbitrary relations are. We also investigated whether these factors affect adults and 4-year-old children equally. Findings suggest that explicit learning produces the same bidirectional action–effect associations as implicit-learning does, that non-arbitrary relations improve performance without affecting learning per se, and that adults and young children show equivalent performance – apart from the common observation that children have greater difficulty to withstand stimulus-induced action tendencies.
Highlights
James’ (1890) ideomotor theory claims that consciously thinking of an action goal automatically triggers the accompanying actions that will help to reach that goal
As the example shows, planning and control of goaldirected actions does require knowledge or expectations about the outcomes of these actions, it implies that the relationship between the action and the action–outcomes has to be bidirectional in order to use action–outcomes as a trigger for action initiation: even though acquiring an action–effect relation implies that the cognitive representation of the given action gets activated before the representation of this action’s effects, planning that action later on requires the representation of the effect to get activated before the representation of the action
Responses were faster when they were followed by a sound effect that was pre-experimentally associated with the key label than by a sound that was not (805 vs. 839 ms respectively), F (1, 60) = 6.82, p < 0.02, η2p = 0.10. This effect of associatedness interacted with age group [F (1, 60) = 4.75, p < 0.04, η2p = 0.07 ] due to that the associatedness effect was reliable in the children (1185 vs. 1246 ms for non-arbitrary and arbitrary relations; F (1, 30) = 5.92, p < 0.05, η2p = 0.17 ) but not in the adults (p > 0.20)
Summary
James’ (1890) ideomotor theory claims that consciously thinking of an action goal automatically triggers the accompanying actions that will help to reach that goal. This ideomotor approach has proved to be very useful in interpreting and explaining goaldirected behavior. As the example shows, planning and control of goaldirected actions does require knowledge or expectations about the outcomes of these actions, it implies that the relationship between the action and the action–outcomes has to be bidirectional in order to use action–outcomes as a trigger for action initiation: even though acquiring an action–effect relation implies that the cognitive representation of the given action gets activated before the representation of this action’s effects (as the action precedes its effects), planning that action later on requires the representation of the effect to get activated before the representation of the action. Ideomotor approaches to action planning and action control recently regained interest (Hommel, 1996; Elsner and Hommel, 2001; Hommel et al, 2001; Stock and Stock, 2004) and a number of studies have demonstrated that subjects acquire and use bidirectional action–outcome contingencies to plan and guide their actions (for an overview, see Hommel and Elsner, 2009)
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