Response-effect compatibility with complex actions: The case of wheel rotations

The response-effect compatibility (REC) paradigm provides an elegant tool for studying the impact of anticipated action effects on action control. Converging evidence for such anticipative processes has mainly emerged from tasks that require simple, discrete actions, whereas tasks that require more complex, continuous actions such as wheel-rotation responses have yielded discrepant results. We investigate the role of two moderating variables that have only played a minor role in effect-based theories of human action control and may account for this discrepancy: (1) the degree of dimensional overlap (rather than its mere presence) and (2) directing attention towards the action effects. The results of three experiments suggest that both factors are crucial in determining the size of REC effects for continuous wheel-rotation responses: Reliable REC effects were obtained, and they were larger with high than with low dimensional overlap and when attending to the effects than when not. Thus, the study points toward important preconditions that determine whether and how effect anticipations affect complex motor actions.