What does this research mean for the field?

Tactile action effects are represented in a transitional manner rather than as end-states, as evidenced by subtle changes in error rates during task-relevant conditions. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.CONTRADICTORY. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.CHALLENGES_CONSENSUS.

What question did this study set out to answer?

This research investigates whether tactile action effects influence action selection through transitions rather than end-states. It aims to extend current ideomotor principles to tactile modalities.

February 26, 2026

EXPRESS: Action selection by temporally close transitions? Subtle evidence from the removal of tactile stimulation

Key Points

This research investigates whether tactile action effects influence action selection through transitions rather than end-states. It aims to extend current ideomotor principles to tactile modalities.
Conducted two experiments examining keypress effects on vibrations
Experiment 1 tested task-irrelevant effects with compatibility influence on responses
Experiment 2 tested task-relevant effects measuring response times and error rates
In Experiment 1, no significant influence on response times or error rates was found
In Experiment 2, error rates suggested subtle support for transitional representations, despite unchanged response times

Abstract

The ideomotor principle holds that actions can be initiated by anticipating their perceptual effects. While recent work suggests that effect anticipations rely on transitions rather than end-states, this has been shown only for visual effects. Here, we extended present approaches by investigating tactile effects. In two experiments, keypresses stopped vibrations on either the same (transition-compatible) or opposite (transition-incompatible) key, and we varied task relevance of these effects. In Experiment 1 (task-irrelevant effects), compatibility influenced neither response times nor error rates. In Experiment 2 (task-relevant effects), response times were still not significantly influenced, but the error rates provided subtle evidence for transitional representations of tactile action effects. Our results not only challenge the predominant assumption of state-based effect representations but also provide insights for the temporal analysis of action effect structures and relate ideomotor learning to theories of optimal Bayesian integration.

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