It's not distance but similarity of distance: changing stimulus relations affect the control of action sequences.

Interacting with our environment happens on different levels of complexity: While there are individual and simple actions like an isolated button press, most actions are more complex and involve sequences of simpler actions. The degree to which multiple simple actions are represented as one action sequence can be measured via so-called response-response binding effects. When two or more responses are executed consecutively, they are integrated into one representation so that repetition of one response can start retrieval of the other.

Separated hands further response-response binding effects.

Action control is hierarchically organized. Multiple consecutive responses can be integrated into an event representation of higher order and can retrieve each other upon repetition, resulting in so-called response-response binding effects. Previous research indicates that the spatial separation of responses can affect how easily they can be cognitively separated.

Instructed speed and accuracy affect binding.

In the past few decades, binding and retrieval mechanisms have gained increased interest in research on human action control. Recent studies show that these mechanisms also play a role in the control of multiple independent actions. Here, two or more successively executed responses seem to be bound to each other so that repeating one of them can retrieve the other, affecting performance in this second response and resulting in so-called response-response binding effects.

Effect-less? Event-files are not terminated by distal action effects.

Event-files that bind features of stimuli, responses, and action effects figure prominently in contemporary views of action control. When a previous feature repeats, a previous event-file is retrieved and can influence current performance. It is unclear, however, what terminates an event-file.

Binding between Responses is not Modulated by Grouping of Response Effects.

Several action control theories postulate that individual responses to stimuli are represented by event files that include temporal bindings between stimulus, response, and effect features. Which stimulus features are bound into an event file can be influenced by stimulus grouping. Here, we investigate whether effect grouping moderates response feature binding.