I Can't Take My Eyes Off of It – Attention Attraction Effects of Implementation Intentions

Abstract

Implementation intentions ("If situation X is encountered, I will perform behavior Y") have been shown to improve goal attainment, relative to mere goal intentions, through automating action control. So far, they have only been examined with regard to three features of automaticity without testing the uncontrollability of implementation intention effects. In two studies on the impact of implementation intentions on visual attention, support was found for the uncontrollability of their effects. Implementation intentions attracted attention (i.e., a situational cue X disrupted attention from a focal task) even during the pursuit of different goals, more than goal intentions. In addition, the regulation of the action control through implementation intentions in response to these attention attraction effects was examined in a subsequent task. Improved performance co-occurred with attention attraction, indicating that no disengagement from the implementation intention took place. Implications for the application of implementation intentions are discussed.Human goal pursuit is often not as successful as it could be because good opportunities to act are missed. Forming a goal intention defin-723

The benefit of no choice: goal-directed plans enhance perceptual processing

“…This finding corroborates our previous conclusion that the RT difference between forced-and free-choice tasks has a pre-central source, and it is in line with the reasoning that if-then plans enhance perceptual efficiency (Achtziger et al, 2012, Bieleke et al, 2013Gollwitzer, 1999;Wieber & Sassenberg, 2006). At the same time, participants made more errors in forced-choice trials.…”

“…As in Experiment 1 and 2, the data is compatible with the idea that plans in the form of implementation intentions facilitate early perceptual processing (Achtziger et al, 2012;Bieleke et al, 2013;Gollwitzer, 1999;Wieber & Sassenberg, 2006). This not only corroborates the conclusions drawn from the PRP paradigm and the locusof-slack logic (Pashler, 1994;Schweickert, 1978), but it also points to their generalizability.…”

“…This is in line with our reasoning that forced-but not free-choice tasks activate if-then plans that facilitate perceptual processing through early attentional advantages of critical stimuli (Achtziger et al, 2012;Bieleke et al, 2013;Gollwitzer, 1999;Wieber & Sassenberg, 2006).…”

“…It is known that the formation of if-then plans or implementation intentions facilitates perceptual processing through early attentional advantages for stimuli specified in the if-part (Achtziger et al, 2012;Bieleke et al,2013;Gollwitzer, 1999;Wieber & Sassenberg, 2006). Our results suggest that this mechanism also underlies the performance differences between forced-and free-choice tasks.…”

“…For example, Wieber and Sassenberg (2006) used neutral words and words related to the stimulus specified in an implementation intention as distracters in a flanker task. The task was to categorize a word presented between these distracters as fast as possible.…”