Binding theories assume that a stimulus and a response made to it are bound together, as in the case of the theory of event coding, in an event file (Hommel, Müsseler, Aschersleben, & Prinz, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 24(05), 849-937, 2001). This binding occurs after even a single encounter with the stimulus and the response. Repeating any part of the event file will cause the entire file to be retrieved. However not only are relevant stimuli bound with responses but even irrelevant stimuli that co-occur with the target can be bound with the response, and repeating such a distractor will result in the event file being retrieved. Yet previous studies focused on retrieval effects due to repetition of the same distractor. In this experiment we analysed whether perceptually similar distractors still influence actions due to distractor-based retrieval of responses. Thirty-one participants responded to the shape of the stimulus while ignoring the luminance (5 different shades of grey). The similarity of the stimulus luminance between two consecutive trials influenced response times on response repetition trials. Response repetition effects were particularly facilitated with exact repetitions of the irrelevant feature luminance, and the strength of this effect diminished with increasing dissimilarity of luminance in a linear fashion. We conclude that response-retrieval effects due to distractor bindings follow the rules of generalization, as discussed in the conditioning literature.

The feature codes of stimuli and responses can be integrated, and if a stimulus is repeated it can retrieve the previously integrated response. Furthermore, even irrelevant features can be integrated and, upon repetition, retrieve the response. Yet the role of attention in feature integration and retrieval is not clearly understood. Some theories assume a central role of attention (e.g., Logan, 1988; Treisman & Gelade, 1980), but other studies have shown no influence of attention on feature binding (e.g., Hommel, 2005). In the present experiments the effect of attention on the integration of two different response-irrelevant features of the same stimulus was examined. In two experiments, participants responded to the color (response feature) of word stimuli, while two irrelevant features of the words (word type and valence) were systematically varied. Participants' attention was directed to either one or the other of the response-irrelevant features by asking participants to report that feature at the end of the trial. Feature-response binding effects in the color task were observed to be stronger for the attended response-irrelevant feature. These results indicate that feature binding is not only very flexible but also sensitive to the distribution of attention. It is also automatic, in the sense that as long as attention is available, feature binding occurs irrespective of the task-specific demands.

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When responding to two events in a sequence, the repetition or change of stimuli and the accompanying response can benefit or interfere with response execution: Full repetition leads to benefits in performance while partial repetition leads to costs. Additionally, even distractor stimuli can be integrated with a response, and can, upon repetition, lead to benefits or interference. Recently it has been suggested that not only identical, but also perceptually similar distractors retrieve a previous response (Singh et al., Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 78(8), 2307-2312, 2016): Participants discriminated four visual shapes appearing in five different shades of grey, the latter being irrelevant for task execution. Exact distractor repetitions yielded the strongest distractor-based retrieval effect, which decreased with increasing dissimilarity between shades of grey. In the current study, we expand these findings by conceptually replicating Singh et al. (2016) using multimodal stimuli. In Experiment 1 (N=31), participants discriminated four visual targets accompanied by five auditory distractors. In Experiment 2 (N=32), participants discriminated four auditory targets accompanied by five visual distractors. We replicated the generalization of distractor-based retrieval – that is, the distractor-based retrieval effect decreased with increasing distractor-dissimilarity. These results not only show that generalization in distractor-based retrieval occurs in multimodal feature processing, but also that these processes can occur for distractors perceived in a different modality to that of the target.

Binding theories postulate short-term episodic traces within which stimulus and response features are integrated. These episodic traces can influence actions by facilitating or interfering with responding. Although the existence of such short-term episodic traces has been well documented, the role of location and the organization of bindings within the episodic traces is still not quite clear. While some theories suggest a key role for location, others do not. Similarly, some theories and empirical findings suggest the existence of object representations within episodic traces, while other theories suggest that bindings are purely binary, that is, consisting of only two features, and that no hierarchical bindings or object representations exist. The aim of the present study was to take a closer look at how bindings are organized within episodic traces: more specifically, the role of location in the organization of bindings was examined. Bindings were tested under two conditions; with varying spatial location of the stimuli (Experiment 1), and with a constant location of the stimuli (Experiment 2). The results suggest that when location varies, bindings are organized in an object-filelike structure within episodic traces, and when location is constant, bindings are binary in nature.