Does feature-based attention play a role in the episodic retrieval of event files?

Huffman, Greg; Hilchey, Matthew D.; Weidler, Blaire J.; Mills, Mark; Pratt, Jay

doi:10.1037/xhp0000709

Cited by 14 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…One may also wonder whether it is the heightened task-relevance of the prime, rather than the repetition of the previous trial’s S-R mapping, that leads to a larger CSE in the modified version of the cross-modal prime-probe task than in the standard version. The fact that the prime is task-relevant may increase the degree to which its relationship to the probe (i.e., congruent or incongruent) is (a) encoded in the previous trial (cf., Hommel, 2007) and (b) retrieved in the current trial (cf., Huffman et al, 2020), thereby increasing the size of the CSE. We cannot rule out this possibility.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The binary structure of event files generalizes to abstract features: A nonhierarchical explanation of task set boundaries for the congruency sequence effect.

Grant¹,

Weissman²

2023

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cogni

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Current views posit that forming and retrieving memories of ongoing events influences action control. However, the organizational structure of these memories, or event files, remains unclear. The hierarchical coding view posits a hierarchical structure, wherein task sets occupy a high level of the hierarchy. Here, the contents of an event file can be retrieved only if the task set repeats. In contrast, the binary coding view posits a nonhierarchical structure, which consists of a collection of independent, binary bindings between different feature pairs. In this view, repeating an abstract feature from a previous event (e.g., the previous trial’s S-R mapping) triggers the retrieval of the associated feature from the same binding (e.g., the previous trial’s congruency) even if the task set changes. To distinguish between these views, we investigated the nature of task set boundaries for the congruency sequence effect (CSE), an index of adaptive control that reflects event file formation and retrieval. Specifically, we investigated whether or not a CSE appears when the task set changes but the previous trial’s S-R mapping repeats. Three experiments involving a cross-modal prime-probe task yielded a CSE under these conditions and ruled out alternative explanations. These findings show that the typical binary structure of event files generalizes from concrete features (e.g., colors and locations) to abstract features (e.g., S-R mappings and task sets). Therefore, contrary to the hierarchical coding view, they provide a nonhierarchical explanation of task set boundaries for the CSE.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Concrete stimulus and response features can also be stored in multiple bindings that subsequently exert independent influences on performance(Giesen & Rothermund, 2014;Hommel, 1998;Huffman et al, 2020).SCOPE OF ADAPTIVE CONTROL…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The binary structure of event files generalizes to abstract features: A nonhierarchical explanation of task set boundaries for the congruency sequence effect.

Grant¹,

Weissman²

2023

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cogni

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“…One possibility is that the manner in which task sets are stored in episodic memory influences whether they serve as partial or complete boundaries for the CSE. Along these lines, task sets may serve as partial boundaries if they are stored in independent, binary bindings with other features (Hommel, 1998(Hommel, , 2007Huffman et al, 2020). According to this view, repeating a feature from the previous trial could trigger the retrieval of the task set from that trial even if the current trial involves a different task set.…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rethinking attentional reset: Task sets determine the boundaries of adaptive control

Grant

Cerpa

Weissman

2021

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

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Adaptive control processes that minimize distraction often operate in a context-specific manner. For example, they may minimize distraction from irrelevant conversations during a lecture but not in the hallway afterwards. It remains unclear, however, whether (a) salient perceptual features or (b) task sets based on such features serve as contextual boundaries for adaptive control in standard distractor-interference tasks. To distinguish between these possibilities, we manipulated whether the structure of a standard, visual distractor-interference task allowed (Experiment 1) or did not allow (Experiment 2) participants to associate salient visual features (i.e., color patches and color words) with different task sets. We found that changing salient visual features across consecutive trials reduced a popular measure of adaptive control in distractor-interference tasks – the congruency sequence effect (CSE) – only when the task structure allowed participants to associate these visual features with different task sets. These findings extend prior support for the task set hypothesis from somewhat atypical cross-modal tasks to a standard unimodal task. Conversely, they pose a challenge to an alternative “attentional reset” hypothesis, and related views, wherein changing salient perceptual features always results in a contextual boundary for the CSE.

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“…The absence of a binding pattern in tasks where target identity discrimination is unnecessary is commonly observed in detection and localization (see Huffman et al, 2018;Schöpper, Hilchey, et al, 2020) performance (when responding to visual stimuli; . This suggests that target identity discrimination is crucial for observing binding effects (see also Hilchey, Leber, & Pratt, 2018;Hilchey, Rajsic, et al, 2018;Huffman et al, 2020). Moreover, partial repetition costs in detection and localization performance can be observed if the location of the target has to be further processed after identifying it to give a response Hilchey et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Saccadic landing positions reveal that eye movements are affected by distractor-based retrieval

Schöpper

Lappe²,

Frings³

2022

Atten Percept Psychophys

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Binding theories assume that stimulus and response features are integrated into short-lasting episodes and that upon repetition of any feature the whole episode is retrieved, thereby affecting performance. Such binding theories are nowadays the standard explanation for a wide range of action control tasks and aim to explain all simple actions, without making assumptions of effector specificity. Yet, it is unclear if eye movements are affected by integration and retrieval in the same way as manual responses. We asked participants to discriminate letters framed by irrelevant shapes. In Experiment 1, participants gave their responses with eye movements. Saccade landing positions showed a spatial error pattern consistent with predictions of binding theories. Saccadic latencies were not affected. In Experiment 2 with an increased interval between prime and probe, the error pattern diminished, again congruent with predictions of binding theories presuming quickly decaying retrieval effects. Experiment 3 used the same task as in Experiment 1, but participants executed their responses with manual key presses; again, we found a binding pattern in response accuracy. We conclude that eye movements and manual responses are affected by the same integration and retrieval processes, supporting the tacit assumption of binding theories to apply to any effector.

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Does feature-based attention play a role in the episodic retrieval of event files?

Cited by 14 publications

References 44 publications

The binary structure of event files generalizes to abstract features: A nonhierarchical explanation of task set boundaries for the congruency sequence effect.

The binary structure of event files generalizes to abstract features: A nonhierarchical explanation of task set boundaries for the congruency sequence effect.

Rethinking attentional reset: Task sets determine the boundaries of adaptive control

Saccadic landing positions reveal that eye movements are affected by distractor-based retrieval

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