The role of stimulus-response binding and retrieval in instrumental learning

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This project systematically explores the role of episodic binding and retrieval processes for instrumental learning. Our findings from the first funding period revealed that short-term contingency learning effects that have been described in terms of the law of exercise (Thorndike, 1898/1911) can be fully explained by processes of recency-based episodic retrieval (the law of recency; Giesen, Schmidt, & Rothermund, 2020). In the second funding period, we will investigate the contribution of episodic retrieval processes to long-term instrumental learning (color-word contingency learning, implicit learning of response sequences).In a first work package, we will employ a novel paradigm (the alternating blocks paradigm; Rothermund & Kapinos, 2021) to systematically assess long-term learning effects in a color-word contingency learning task. This paradigm allows us to distinguish between explanations of long-term learning that are based on episodic retrieval (frequency-based retrieval) vs. non-episodic forms of learning (e.g., association formation, statistical learning; Miller et al., 2019; Theeuwes, 2019).In a second work package, a spatial serial reaction time task (SRTT; Nissen & Bullemer, 1987) will be used to investigate the role of episodic response-response (RR) retrieval (Moeller & Frings, 2019a, b) in implicit sequence learning. A newly developed variant of the SRTT (Rothermund, Moeller, & Sprengholz, 2021) allows us to assess the contribution of recency-based and frequency-based episodic RR retrieval processes to an implicit learning of response sequences.The superordinate aim of the project is to further specify the overarching model of this research unit (BRAC model). Specifically, we introduce a distinction between recency-based and frequency-based retrieval, and we will investigate the qualitative characteristics of episodic retrieval processes for SR and RR episodes across short and long distances. The planned studies are also crucial for extending the scope of the BRAC model to phenomena of long-term learning (contingency learning, implicit sequence learning). Besides the theoretical implications, our research is also of eminent practical relevance for our understanding of habits.