The role of location in the organization of bindings within short-term episodic traces.

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. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).