Episodic Binding of Approach-Avoidance Goals to Stimuli: On the Microgenesis of Stimulus-Motivated Action Tendencies to Approach and Avoid

Appetitive and aversive stimuli are typically distinguished by their capacities to trigger approach- and avoidance-related action tendencies. The present study investigated whether approaching and avoiding stimuli creates episodic memory traces that are automatically retrieved when the stimulus is encountered again. Using a sequential distractor-to-distractor repetition paradigm, we hypothesized that distractor repetition from prime to probe trials will facilitate approach-avoidance to the probe target if the response is also repeated from prime to probe but will impede responding to the probe target if the response has changed. Results of four experiments (total N = 403) were in line with the hypothesized episodic binding and retrieval effect. A stimulus-cued retrieval of the previous approach and avoidance response was even obtained with different response sets and with perceptually different approach- and avoidance-related action effects in prime and probe trials. It is concluded that approach and avoidance action goals become linked to stimuli in an episodic memory trace and are automatically retrieved from memory when the stimulus is encountered again, which makes these stimuli appetitive and aversive.