Binding processes in the control of nonroutine action sequences.

Although human behavior obviously includes routine and nonroutine action sequences, there is a great lack of knowledge regarding any processes relevant for the control of nonroutine action sequences. We propose that processes known to play a role in individual nonroutine actions might contribute to the control of nonroutine sequential action, as well. In particular, binding between simultaneously occurring stimuli and responses (SR-binding) has been discussed as one basic process in action control (Henson, Eckstein, Waszak, Frings, & Horner, 2014). All binding related studies up to this point focused on very short events, including a maximum of two directly contiguous responses. By contrast, most elements in sequential actions share no point of direct contact. In three experiments we analyzed the structure of bindings in sequences of two and three responses and found identical bindings between contiguous and noncontiguous responses. This pattern suggests a network-like representation of action sequences and with that decisively extents the situations in which binding plays a role as a basic process for action control. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).