Christian Frings
Biographic Data
| ID | 5709292 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Christian Frings |
| GIVEN NAMES | Christian |
| FAMILY NAME | Frings |
| SIGNATURE | FRINGS C |
| AFFILIATIONS | Universität Trier |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3852-7380 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 35 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 10 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 35 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2003 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
No error on the side of safety: No representational momentum for auditory looming stimuli
The looming bias describes systematic differences in the perception of looming as compared to receding stimuli. To date, the most prominent and successful theory put forward to account for this bias is the adaptive bias theory, based on the more general error management theory framework, which argues for a perceptual bias for looming stimuli to err on the side of safety. We challenge this notion by providing evidence using the established probe c…
Binding continuous response features of extended movements: Integration with discrete response but not stimulus features
Binding and retrieval have been portrayed as key mechanisms in human action control. This theoretical framework posits that features of perception and action (e.g., object color, effector, etc.) are bound to each other. Afterwards, re-encountering one feature can retrieve bound features, thereby facilitating action repetition. Previous research focused on bindings with discrete response features (e.g., responding with a left or right button). Thi…
No memory, no effect: Action based evaluative conditioning effects are modulated by contingency memory
Evaluative conditioning refers to the change in the liking of a stimulus due to its pairing with another affective stimulus. Action control research indicates that not only affective stimuli, but also affective actions can lead to conditioning effects. While a large number of studies have examined the influence of contingency memory on evaluative conditioning for stimulus-stimulus contingencies, its effect on stimulus-response contingencies has n…
Capacity limits for stimulus-response bindings
Executing a response results in associations between features of stimuli and the response stored in a temporary memory trace or ‘event file’. Reencountering any feature retrieves the entire event file which in turn affects performance in the current action episode. Event files not only include task-relevant features but also features from stimuli that are task-irrelevant but accompanying the target. So far, however, the potential capacity limit o…
Re-visiting an affective modulation of stimulus-response binding and retrieval
134) we found clear evidence for S-R binding effects that were not modulated by the presentation of affective images in either timing condition. The results demonstrate that affective content does not modulate binding and retrieval
The self-relevant spotlight metaphor: Self-relevant targets diminish distractor–response-binding effects
Recently, it has been proposed that self-relevance of a stimulus enhances executive control and reduces the impact of distractors on current task performance. The present study aimed to test whether the binding between a distractor and a response is influenced by self-relevance, too. We assumed that targets’ self-relevance should increase executive control processes and therefore reduce the influence of distractors on current performance. In a di…
Signaling as a context-dependent strategy in action control
In sequential two-choice tasks, performance is typically improved when both the stimulus features and the response are repeated but worsens when only one of them repeats and the other changes (partial repetition costs). The signaling account assumes a bias of response selection towards a repetition or change by applying a heuristic that uses the relation between previous and current stimulus features as a response signal. We investigated whether …
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. In this study, we introduced a barrier between the responding hands to investigate …
Anodal tDCS of the left inferior parietal cortex enhances memory for correct information without affecting recall of misinformation
False memories during testimony are an enormous challenge for criminal trials.Exposure to post-event misinformation can lead to inadvertent creation of false memories, known as the misinformation effect.We investigated anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on the left inferior parietal lobe (IPL) during recall testing to enhance accurate recall while addressing the misinformation effect.Participants (N = 60) watched a television s…
Memory for abstract control states does not decay with increasing retrieval delays
Recent studies have suggested that abstract control states (i.e., internal attentional states independent from concrete stimuli and responses) can be stored in episodic memory and retrieved subsequently. However, the duration of such a control state memory remains unclear. Previous research has found a quick and complete decay for stimulus–response bindings after 2000–5000 ms. Here, we tested a possible decay of control state bindings with retrie…
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 in…
Motion perception in touch: Resolving contradictory findings by varying probabilities of different trial types
Representational momentum describes the typical overestimation of the final location of a moving stimulus in the direction of stimulus motion. While systematically observed in different sensory modalities, especially vision and audition, in touch, empirical findings indicate a mixed pattern of results, with some published studies suggesting the existence of the phenomenon, while others do not. In the present study, one possible moderating variabl…
Two roads leading to the same evaluative conditioning effect? Stimulus-response binding versus operant conditioning
Evaluative Conditioning (EC) refers to changes in our liking or disliking of a stimulus due to its pairing with other positive or negative stimuli. In addition to stimulus-based mechanisms, recent research has shown that action-based mechanisms can also lead to EC effects. Research, based on action control theories, has shown that pairing a positive or negative action with a neutral stimulus results in EC effects (Stimulus-Response binding). Simi…
Separating binding and retrieval of event files in older adults
In the literature on human action control, it is assumed that features of stimuli (S) and responses (R) are integrated into internal representations (so-called event files) that are involved in the execution of an action. Experimentally, the impact of this integration on action control is typically analyzed via S-R binding effects. Recent theorizing in the BRAC framework (Frings et al., 2020) suggests to disentangle the processes of S-R binding p…
Protecting against mental impasses: Evidence of selective retrieval mitigating the impact of fixation in creative problem solving
All together now: Simultaneous feature integration and feature retrieval in action control
Accounts of human action control assume integration of stimulus and response features at response execution and, upon repetition of some of those features, retrieval of other previously integrated features. Even though both processes contribute sequentially to observed binding effects in studies using a sequential prime-probe design, integration and retrieval processes theoretically affect human action simultaneously. That is, every action that w…
The beep-speed illusion: Non-spatial tones increase perceived speed of visual objects in a forced-choice paradigm
Shocking advantage! Improving digital game performance using non-invasive brain stimulation
As digital gaming has grown from a leisure activity into a competitive endeavor with college scholarships, celebrity, and large prize pools at stake, players search for ways to enhance their performance, including through coaching, training, and employing tools that yield a performance advantage. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive brain stimulation technique that is presently being explored by esports athletes and co…
Different effects of spatial separation in action and perception
Spatial distance of response keys has been shown to have an effect on nonspatial tasks in that performance improved if the spatial distance increased. Comparably, spatial distance of stimulus features has been shown to have a performance-improving effect in a (partly) spatial task. Here, we combined these two findings in the same task to test for the commonality of the effect of stimulus distance and the effect of response distance. Thus, we vari…
Specifying the mechanisms behind benefits of saving-enhanced memory
Remote binding counts: Measuring distractor-response binding effects online
Bindings between stimulus- and response features have received increasing attention in recent research and theorizing regarding human action control. Apparently, very simple mechanisms that lead to feature binding and retrieval of recently integrated features have an important influence on planning and execution of actions. Regarding the importance of these mechanisms, it seems to be reasonable to test whether they can be measured outside of a fo…
Selective directed forgetting of motor sequences
We examined selective directed forgetting in motor memory using a new variant of a three-list approach, to distinguish between accounts of directed forgetting. Participants consecutively studied three lists (L1, L2, and L3) of four sequential four-finger movements each. After studying L2, participants in the forget group were instructed to selectively forget the just studied four items of L2 but to retain the previously studied four items of L1, …
Not so social after all: Video-based acquisition of observational stimulus-response bindings
Merely observing how another person responds to a stimulus results in incidental stimulus-response (SR) bindings in memory. These observationally acquired SR bindings can be retrieved on a later occasion. Retrieval will bias current behavioral response tendencies towards re-execution of the observed response. Previous demonstrations of this effect endorsed a dyadic interaction paradigm in which two co-actors respond in alternating fashion. The pr…
Brightness versus darkness: The influence of stimulus intensity on the distractor-response binding effect
The intensity of a stimulus has been found to have a distinct impact upon response processes (e.g., response speed, response force, & response selection). For instance, reaction times are faster to bright than to dim stimuli (e.g., Kohfeld, 1971). In the present study, we investigated the possible influence of stimulus intensity on binding processes. According to binding theories, stimulus and response features are integrated together in short-li…
When self‐prioritization crosses the senses: Crossmodal self‐prioritization demonstrated between vision and touch
The investigation of self‐prioritization via a simple matching paradigm represents a new way of enhancing our knowledge about the processing of self‐relevant content and also increases our understanding of the self‐concept itself. By associating formerly neutral material with the self, and assessing the resulting prioritization of these newly formed self‐associations, conclusions can be drawn concerning the effects of self‐relevance without the b…
Who is watching Big Brother ? TV consumption predicted by masked affective priming
In the present study (N=37), we assessed attitudes towards a telecast ( Big Brother ) with indirect (masked affective priming) and direct (semantic differentials) methods. Additionally, participants recorded their TV viewing behaviour for a period of 7 days. Implicit positivity of the telecast (assessed by the affective priming task), explicit positivity (semantic differentials), and minutes per week spent viewing the TV show were all positively …
Who will win Wimbledon? The recognition heuristic in predicting sports events
Goldstein and Gigerenzer ( 2002 ) described the recognition heuristic as a fast, frugal, and effective decision strategy. However, most studies concerning the recognition heuristic have been conducted in static domains, that is, in domains where it could plausibly be argued that relevant variables stay relatively constant. Yet the question is whether the heuristic would also work in dynamic environments where the quality of the actors rises and f…
Children do show negative priming: Further evidence for early development of an intact selective control mechanism
Reactions to stimuli that were shortly before presented as distractors are usually slowed down; this phenomenon is known as negative priming. Negative priming is an accepted index for tapping into selective control mechanisms. Although this effect is well established for adults, it has been claimed that children do not show negative priming. Recently, however, V. E. Pritchard and E. Neumann challenged this view and concluded that selective contro…
Who is watching Big Brother ? TV consumption predicted by masked affective priming
In the present study (N=37), we assessed attitudes towards a telecast ( Big Brother ) with indirect (masked affective priming) and direct (semantic differentials) methods. Additionally, participants recorded their TV viewing behaviour for a period of 7 days. Implicit positivity of the telecast (assessed by the affective priming task), explicit positivity (semantic differentials), and minutes per week spent viewing the TV show were all positively …
Who will win Wimbledon? The recognition heuristic in predicting sports events
Goldstein and Gigerenzer ( 2002 ) described the recognition heuristic as a fast, frugal, and effective decision strategy. However, most studies concerning the recognition heuristic have been conducted in static domains, that is, in domains where it could plausibly be argued that relevant variables stay relatively constant. Yet the question is whether the heuristic would also work in dynamic environments where the quality of the actors rises and f…
Children do show negative priming: Further evidence for early development of an intact selective control mechanism
Reactions to stimuli that were shortly before presented as distractors are usually slowed down; this phenomenon is known as negative priming. Negative priming is an accepted index for tapping into selective control mechanisms. Although this effect is well established for adults, it has been claimed that children do not show negative priming. Recently, however, V. E. Pritchard and E. Neumann challenged this view and concluded that selective contro…
Kognitive Psychologie
Kognitive Psychologie
Influence of spatial attention on conscious and unconscious word priming
The natural egocenter: An experimental account of locating the self
An action control perspective of evaluative conditioning
Attitudes are at the core of many topical issues, and a meeting point for research and discussion. This pervasiveness is not surprising given an attitude’s utility in reducing the complexity of the environment into relatively simple likes or dislikes of stimuli. How attitudes are formed is usually addressed by means of evaluative conditioning (EC). EC has been addressed from a traditional cognitive and a functional account. In this article, we pr…
Binding and Retrieval in Action Control (BRAC)
Human action control relies on representations that integrate perception and action, but the relevant research is scattered over various experimental paradigms and the theorizing is overly paradigm-specific. To overcome this obstacle we propose BRAC (binding and retrieval in action control), an overarching, integrative framework that accounts for a wide range of seemingly unrelated findings by assuming 'two core processes: feature binding and ret…
The disintegration of event files over time: Decay or interference
When facing particular combinations of stimuli and responses, people create temporary event files integrating the corresponding stimulus and response features. Repeating one or more of these features retrieves the entire event file, which impairs performance if not all features repeat (partial-repetition costs). We studied how durable event files are over time and how sensitive they are to intervening objects or stimulus-response events. After-ef…
Shocking advantage! Improving digital game performance using non-invasive brain stimulation
As digital gaming has grown from a leisure activity into a competitive endeavor with college scholarships, celebrity, and large prize pools at stake, players search for ways to enhance their performance, including through coaching, training, and employing tools that yield a performance advantage. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive brain stimulation technique that is presently being explored by esports athletes and co…
Different effects of spatial separation in action and perception
Spatial distance of response keys has been shown to have an effect on nonspatial tasks in that performance improved if the spatial distance increased. Comparably, spatial distance of stimulus features has been shown to have a performance-improving effect in a (partly) spatial task. Here, we combined these two findings in the same task to test for the commonality of the effect of stimulus distance and the effect of response distance. Thus, we vari…
Specifying the mechanisms behind benefits of saving-enhanced memory
Remote binding counts: Measuring distractor-response binding effects online
Bindings between stimulus- and response features have received increasing attention in recent research and theorizing regarding human action control. Apparently, very simple mechanisms that lead to feature binding and retrieval of recently integrated features have an important influence on planning and execution of actions. Regarding the importance of these mechanisms, it seems to be reasonable to test whether they can be measured outside of a fo…
Selective directed forgetting of motor sequences
We examined selective directed forgetting in motor memory using a new variant of a three-list approach, to distinguish between accounts of directed forgetting. Participants consecutively studied three lists (L1, L2, and L3) of four sequential four-finger movements each. After studying L2, participants in the forget group were instructed to selectively forget the just studied four items of L2 but to retain the previously studied four items of L1, …
Not so social after all: Video-based acquisition of observational stimulus-response bindings
Merely observing how another person responds to a stimulus results in incidental stimulus-response (SR) bindings in memory. These observationally acquired SR bindings can be retrieved on a later occasion. Retrieval will bias current behavioral response tendencies towards re-execution of the observed response. Previous demonstrations of this effect endorsed a dyadic interaction paradigm in which two co-actors respond in alternating fashion. The pr…
Brightness versus darkness: The influence of stimulus intensity on the distractor-response binding effect
The intensity of a stimulus has been found to have a distinct impact upon response processes (e.g., response speed, response force, & response selection). For instance, reaction times are faster to bright than to dim stimuli (e.g., Kohfeld, 1971). In the present study, we investigated the possible influence of stimulus intensity on binding processes. According to binding theories, stimulus and response features are integrated together in short-li…
When self‐prioritization crosses the senses: Crossmodal self‐prioritization demonstrated between vision and touch
The investigation of self‐prioritization via a simple matching paradigm represents a new way of enhancing our knowledge about the processing of self‐relevant content and also increases our understanding of the self‐concept itself. By associating formerly neutral material with the self, and assessing the resulting prioritization of these newly formed self‐associations, conclusions can be drawn concerning the effects of self‐relevance without the b…
All together now: Simultaneous feature integration and feature retrieval in action control
Accounts of human action control assume integration of stimulus and response features at response execution and, upon repetition of some of those features, retrieval of other previously integrated features. Even though both processes contribute sequentially to observed binding effects in studies using a sequential prime-probe design, integration and retrieval processes theoretically affect human action simultaneously. That is, every action that w…
The beep-speed illusion: Non-spatial tones increase perceived speed of visual objects in a forced-choice paradigm
Protecting against mental impasses: Evidence of selective retrieval mitigating the impact of fixation in creative problem solving
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. In this study, we introduced a barrier between the responding hands to investigate …
Anodal tDCS of the left inferior parietal cortex enhances memory for correct information without affecting recall of misinformation
False memories during testimony are an enormous challenge for criminal trials.Exposure to post-event misinformation can lead to inadvertent creation of false memories, known as the misinformation effect.We investigated anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on the left inferior parietal lobe (IPL) during recall testing to enhance accurate recall while addressing the misinformation effect.Participants (N = 60) watched a television s…
Memory for abstract control states does not decay with increasing retrieval delays
Recent studies have suggested that abstract control states (i.e., internal attentional states independent from concrete stimuli and responses) can be stored in episodic memory and retrieved subsequently. However, the duration of such a control state memory remains unclear. Previous research has found a quick and complete decay for stimulus–response bindings after 2000–5000 ms. Here, we tested a possible decay of control state bindings with retrie…
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 in…
Psychology (29 works) · Cognitive psychology (25 works) · Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies (24 works) · Computer Science (16 works) · Neuroscience (15 works) · Action Observation and Synchronization (13 works) · Cognition (10 works) · Perception (10 works) · Artificial Intelligence (9 works) · Communication (9 works)