On the decay of distractor-response episodes.

Distractor-to-distractor repetition effects can be explained by retrieval and/or inhibitory processes. Interestingly, the two accounts predict different effects from repeated distractors: Inhibition theories always predict benefits, whereas stimulus-response-retrieval theories predict an interaction of response repetition and distractor repetitions, resulting in benefits with response repetitions and costs with response changes. In the present experiment the time-course and the temporal separability of a stimulus-response episode on distractor-to-distractor repetitions were analyzed. The results showed that the interaction of response repetition and distractor repetitions was affected by a simple decay function. In addition, distractor repetition effects were affected by the temporal separability. In concert, the data yield evidence for retrieval-based explanations of distractor-to-distractor repetitions.