Current theories of binding and learning propose that transient episodic bindings between stimulus and response features provide the foundation for forming long-term S-R associations (Frings et al., 2023). Across two high-powered, pre-registered experiments (total N = 163), we found that the stimulus-response binding and retrieval effect increased linearly with each additional episode contributing to an uninterrupted repetition of the same S-R combination. To test whether such repeated exposure yields an abstract, stable, non-episodic S-R association in long-term memory, we examined whether the influence of an uninterrupted series persists after a single intervening, mismatching episode that contradicts the series. Our results show that the repetition effect does not modulate retrieval for S-R combinations deviating from the series and thus does not survive even a single mismatching episode, despite 10 or 11 prior repetitions. Hence, the increased retrieval effect for long series of matching episodes does not indicate a transition from episodic bindings to long-term associations but likely reflects an increased probability of retrieving a matching S-R episode from memory. In sum, we found no convincing evidence that mere S-R repetitions − independent of higher-order processes such as hypothesis testing or propositional reasoning − are sufficient to form stable, abstract, non-episodic S-R associations that operate independently of episodic binding and retrieval.