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

Choosing among different options is costly. Typically, response times are slower if participants can choose between several alternatives (free-choice) compared to when a stimulus determines a single correct response (forced-choice). This performance difference is commonly attributed to additional cognitive processing in free-choice tasks, which require time-consuming decisions between response options. Alternatively, the forced-choice advantage might result from facilitated perceptual processing, a prediction derived from the framework of implementation intentions. This hypothesis was tested in three experiments. Experiments 1 and 2 were PRP experiments and showed the expected underadditive interaction of the SOA manipulation and task type, pointing to a pre-central perceptual origin of the performance difference. Using the additive-factors logic, Experiment 3 further supported this view. We discuss the findings in the light of alternative accounts and offer potential mechanisms underlying performance differences in forced- and free-choice tasks.

[1]  J. Hoffmann,et al.  Learning at any rate: action–effect learning for stimulus-based actions , 2011, Psychological research.

[2]  H Pashler,et al.  Processing stages in overlapping tasks: evidence for a central bottleneck. , 1984, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[3]  A. Welford.  THE ‘PSYCHOLOGICAL REFRACTORY PERIOD’ AND THE TIMING OF HIGH‐SPEED PERFORMANCE—A REVIEW AND A THEORY , 1952 .

[4]  Arvid Herwig,et al.  Action–effect associations revealed by eye movements , 2011, Psychonomic bulletin & review.

[5]  Wolfgang Prinz,et al.  Die Reaktion als Willenshandlung , 1998 .

[6]  B. Hommel,et al.  Effect anticipation and action control. , 2001, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[7]  G. Aschersleben,et al.  The Theory of Event Coding (TEC): a framework for perception and action planning. , 2001, The Behavioral and brain sciences.

[8]  M. Brass,et al.  The What, When, Whether Model of Intentional Action , 2008, The Neuroscientist : a review journal bringing neurobiology, neurology and psychiatry.

[9]  C. Midden,et al.  To plan or not to plan? Goal achievement or interrupting the performance of mundane behaviors , 1999 .

[10]  P. Sheeran,et al.  How do implementation intentions promote goal attainment? A test of component processes , 2007 .

[11]  Sam J. Maglio,et al.  Action control by implementation intentions : The role of discrete emotions , 2013 .

[12]  Andrea Kiesel,et al.  Journal of Experimental Psychology : Human Perception and Performance Do Endogenous and Exogenous Action Control Compete for Perception ? , 2011 .

[13]  C. W. Telford.  The refractory phase of voluntary and associative responses , 1931 .

[14]  P. Gollwitzer,et al.  Implementation intentions and effective goal pursuit , 1997 .

[15]  Wilfried Kunde,et al.  Effective Rotations: Action Effects Determine the Interplay of Mental and Manual Rotations Interactions of Manual and Mental Rotations , 2022 .

[16]  C. Frith.  The psychology of volition , 2013, Experimental Brain Research.

[17]  Pierre Jolicoeur,et al.  No differences in dual-task costs between forced- and free-choice tasks , 2014, Psychological Research.

[18]  P. Gollwitzer,et al.  Implementation intentions and goal achievement: A meta-analysis of effects and processes , 2006 .

[19]  P. Sheeran,et al.  Motivational and volitional processes in action initiation: A field study of the role of implementation intentions , 2000 .

[20]  Wilfried Kunde,et al.  Visual and tactile action effects determine bimanual coordination performance. , 2009, Human movement science.

[21]  Markus Janczyk,et al.  Level 2 perspective taking entails two processes: evidence from PRP experiments. , 2013, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[22]  M. Posner,et al.  Orienting of Attention* , 1980, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology.

[23]  P. Jolicoeur,et al.  A central capacity sharing model of dual-task performance. , 2003, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[24]  H. Pashler.  Dual-task interference in simple tasks: data and theory. , 1994, Psychological bulletin.

[25]  P. Gollwitzer.  Implementation intentions: Strong effects of simple plans. , 1999 .

[26]  P. Gollwitzer.  Goal Achievement: The Role of Intentions , 1993 .

[27]  Wilfried Kunde,et al.  Action-effect codes in and before the central bottleneck: evidence from the psychological refractory period paradigm. , 2007, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[28]  Saul Sternberg,et al.  The discovery of processing stages: Extensions of Donders' method , 1969 .

[29]  C. Agnew.  Then a miracle occurs : focusing on behavior in social psychological theory and research : Purdue Symposium on Psychological Sciences , 2010 .

[30]  Anja Achtziger,et al.  Committing to implementation intentions: Attention and memory effects for selected situational cues , 2012 .

[31]  C. Kennard,et al.  Functional role of the supplementary and pre-supplementary motor areas , 2008, Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

[32]  Ann Reynolds,et al.  The locus of redundant-targets and nontargets effects: evidence from the psychological refractory period paradigm. , 2003, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[33]  A. Schubö,et al.  Action Intentions Modulate Allocation of Visual Attention: Electrophysiological Evidence , 2012, Front. Psychology.

[34]  J. C. Johnston,et al.  Chronometric Evidence for Central Postponement in Temporally Overlapping Tasks , 2003 .

[35]  W. Kunde,et al.  Response-effect compatibility in manual choice reaction tasks. , 2001, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[36]  Patrick Haggard,et al.  What are self-generated actions? , 2011, Consciousness and Cognition.

[37]  K. Sassenberg,et al.  I can’t take my eyes off of it : Attention attraction effects of implementation intentions , 2006 .

[38]  R. Gaschler,et al.  Instructed Task Demands and Utilization of Action Effect Anticipation , 2012, Front. Psychology.

[39]  A. Kiesel,et al.  Adaptive control of ideomotor effect anticipations. , 2010, Acta psychologica.

[40]  Wilfried Kunde,et al.  The locus of tool-transformation costs. , 2012, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[41]  W. G. Koster,et al.  The psychological refractory period , 1966 .

[42]  Roger Ratcliff,et al.  A Theory of Memory Retrieval. , 1978 .

[43]  P. Jolicoeur,et al.  Decision and Response in Dual-Task Interference , 1997, Cognitive Psychology.

[44]  G. Dreisbach,et al.  Bidirectional priming processes in the Simon task. , 2009, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[45]  Richard Schweickert,et al.  A critical path generalization of the additive factor method: Analysis of a stroop task , 1978 .

[46]  R. Pfister,et al.  Instant Attraction: Immediate Action-Effect Bindings Occur for Both, Stimulus- and Goal-Driven Actions , 2012, Front. Psychology.

[47]  Sean M. McCrea,et al.  How to Maximize Implementation Intention Effects , 2009 .

[48]  D. Berlyne.  Uncertainty and conflict: a point of contact between information-theory and behavior-theory concepts. , 1957, Psychological review.

[49]  Uwe Mattler,et al.  Time course of free-choice priming effects explained by a simple accumulator model , 2012, Cognition.

[50]  P. Gollwitzer,et al.  Implementation intentions and efficient action initiation. , 2001, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[51]  S. Dehaene,et al.  Imaging unconscious semantic priming , 1998, Nature.

[52]  B. Hommel,et al.  Blindness to response-compatible stimuli. , 1997, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[53]  D. Berlyne.  Conflict and choice time. , 1957, British journal of psychology.

[54]  Gabriele Oettingen,et al.  Action control by implementation intentions : effective cue detection and efficient response initiation , 2007 .

[55]  W. Kunde,et al.  Dissecting the response in response–effect compatibility , 2012, Experimental Brain Research.

[56]  Frings, C. & Wentura, D. (in press). Self-priorization processes in action and perception Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance , 2014 .

[57]  Arvid Herwig,et al.  Action-Effect Bindings and Ideomotor Learning in Intention- and Stimulus-Based Actions , 2012, Front. Psychology.

[58]  M. Steinhauser,et al.  A dual-stage two-phase model of selective attention. , 2010, Psychological review.

[59]  P. Gollwitzer,et al.  Reflective and reflexive action control in patients with frontal brain lesions. , 2001, Neuropsychology.

[60]  Anja Achtziger,et al.  Responding to subliminal cues: Do if-then plans facilitate action preparation and initiation without conscious intent? , 2009 .

[61]  Wolfgang Prinz,et al.  Busy doing nothing: Evidence for nonaction-effect binding , 2009, Psychonomic bulletin & review.

[62]  Arvid Herwig,et al.  Intention and attention in ideomotor learning. , 2009, Quarterly journal of experimental psychology.

[63]  R. Passingham,et al.  Medial frontal cortex: from self-generated action to reflection on one's own performance , 2010, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[64]  Hannes Ruge,et al.  On the timescale of stimulus-based action–effect learning , 2011, Quarterly journal of experimental psychology.

[65]  M. Posner,et al.  Attention and the detection of signals. , 1980, Journal of experimental psychology.

[66]  Wolfgang Prinz,et al.  Two Modes of Sensorimotor Integration in Intention-Based and Stimulus-Based Actions , 2007, Quarterly journal of experimental psychology.

[67]  R. Proctor,et al.  Stimulus-response compatibility and psychological refractory period effects: Implications for response selection , 2002, Psychonomic bulletin & review.

[68]  Agnieszka Wykowska,et al.  How you move is what you see: action planning biases selection in visual search. , 2009, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[69]  B. Hommel.  Automatic stimulus-response translation in dual-task performance. , 1998, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.