Habituation in Predictability-Modulations of Stimulus-Response Binding.

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Acting intentionally requires the integration of perceptual with action information in a common representational format. In the action control literature, this integrated representation is often called event file and is measured in so-called stimulus-response binding effects. These effects allow us to measure the strength of this shared representation and the impact it can have on behavior. A well-established finding is that particular variables can modulate the size of binding effects - one recently discovered modulator is stimulus predictability: If perceptual information is perfectly predictable, stimulus-response binding effects diminish. Yet, the concrete mechanism of why predictability diminishes stimulus-response binding effects remained elusive so far. In the present study (N = 234), we compared two possible explanations for these modulation effects, namely habituation versus statistical learning. We found that it is unlikely that the predictability modulation is explained by habituation. Instead, we found evidence that is more in line with (but not exclusive to) learning of statistical regularities as an explanation. Our study thus adds to recent attempts to more closely relate learning mechanisms and action control.