Does Explicit Expectation Really Affect Preparation?

Umbach, Valentin J.; Schwager, Sabine; Frensch, Peter A.; Gaschler, Robert · 2012 · Frontiers in Psychology

DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00378

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Summary

This study investigates whether explicit expectations causally influence action preparation or merely reflect an underlying preparatory state. While expectation is widely assumed to facilitate performance, it remains unclear if verbalized predictions actively drive cognitive processes or are simply epiphenomena of unconscious preparation. To resolve this, Umbach et al. designed experiments to dissociate explicit expectations from other task demands, specifically testing if participants would utilize expectations even when doing so was maladaptive for task performance. The researchers conducted four experiments using a three-choice reaction time task where stimuli appeared with varying frequencies (60%, 30%, and 10%). In Experiment 1, participants verbally predicted the upcoming stimulus; Experiment 2 served as a control without predictions. Experiments 3 and 4 replaced verbal predictions with visual cues that were either non-informative (randomly presented) or informative (80% valid). Crucially, after the first two blocks, a selective response deadline was introduced for the medium-frequency stimulus (30%). Participants received an aversive noise penalty if they failed to respond quickly to this specific stimulus. This manipulation created a conflict: participants explicitly expected the high-frequency stimulus (60%) based on past experience, but task demands required them to prepare for the medium-frequency stimulus to avoid punishment. The results demonstrated that explicit expectations and action preparation can operate independently. Despite the pressure to prepare for the medium-frequency stimulus, participants’ verbal predictions continued to align with stimulus frequencies, most often predicting the high-frequency event. However, reaction times revealed that participants responded faster when the actual stimulus matched their explicit expectation, even when that expectation conflicted with the optimal preparation strategy dictated by the deadline. This "match effect" persisted across all experiments, including those with non-informative cues, indicating that participants utilized their explicit expectations to guide preparation regardless of whether it hindered overall task efficiency. The findings conclude that explicit expectation is not merely a by-product of preparation but actively feeds into preparatory processes. The persistence of match effects under conditions where using expectations was dysfunctional suggests that explicit expectations have a causal role in action control. This challenges views that conscious intention is solely an epiphenomenon of unconscious brain activity, supporting the notion that explicit expectations constitute a distinct source of task processing that can override or conflict with other adaptive preparatory mechanisms.

Key finding

Explicit expectations causally influence action preparation, as evidenced by faster response times when stimuli matched expectations even when task demands encouraged preparation for a different stimulus.

Methodology

lab_experiment

Sample size: 105

Provenance

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Topics

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• anticipation