According to ideomotor theory, motor actions are selected by anticipating their effects. In typical “induction experiments” (Elsner & Hommel, 2001) actions are first associated with contingent but task-irrelevant effects during a free-choice learning phase task. The occurrence of action-effect (A-E) learning is later assessed in a test phase with a free-choice or forced-choice task, using the former action effects as response-eliciting stimuli. Much research employs a free-choice learning phase, following Herwig et al. (2007) who argued that A-E learning only occurs in that case. However, these studies often report rather small learning effects. Important for the present purposes, Eder and Dignath (2017) reported more rapid learning of A-E relations when participants were instructed on these relations beforehand, among others in a condition in which an effect had to be produced intentionally. Therefore, we hypothesized that turning the action effects in an induction experiment task-relevant can lead to a more pronounced learning effect.

In an experimental group, we employed a forced-choice task during the learning phase that turned the action effects task-relevant. The task consisted of reproducing a tone sequence by pressing certain keys, therefore operationalizing a stimulus-based learning mode. A-E learning in this group was then compared to that of a control group with a standard learning phase. Results (so far) show the expected, more pronounced A-E learning in the experimental compared with the control group, indicating that turning the action effects in the learning phase task-relevant does indeed enhance A-E learning.