Department of Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Gent, Belgium.
Q J Exp Psychol (Hove). 2021 Oct;74(10):1697-1708. doi: 10.1177/17470218211007138. Epub 2021 Apr 5.
Automatic behaviour is supposedly underlain by the unintentional retrieval of processing episodes, which are stored during the repeated overt practice of a task or activity. In the present study, we investigated whether covertly practicing a task (e.g., repeatedly imagining responding to a stimulus) also leads to the storage of processing episodes and thus to automatic behaviour. Participants first either responded overtly or covertly to stimuli according to a first categorization task in a practice phase. We then measured the presence of automatic response-congruency effects in a subsequent test phase that involved a different categorization task but the same stimuli and responses. Our results indicate that covert practice can lead to a response-congruency effect. We conclude that covert practice can lead to automatic behaviour and discuss the different components of covert practice, such as motor imagery, visual imagery, and inner speech, that contribute to the formation of processing episodes in memory.
自动行为据称是由无意识检索处理片段引起的，这些片段是在反复进行任务或活动的公开练习中存储的。在本研究中，我们调查了暗中练习任务（例如，反复想象对刺激做出反应）是否也会导致处理片段的存储，从而导致自动行为。参与者首先在练习阶段根据第一个分类任务公开或暗中对刺激做出反应。然后，我们在后续的测试阶段测量了自动反应一致性效应的存在，该阶段涉及不同的分类任务，但使用相同的刺激和反应。我们的结果表明，暗中练习可以导致反应一致性效应。我们得出结论，暗中练习可以导致自动行为，并讨论了暗中练习的不同组成部分，例如运动想象、视觉想象和内部言语，这些部分有助于在记忆中形成处理片段。
