Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

The influence exerted by no longer relevant intentions that have been successfully executed or cancelled is called aftereffects. The current study investigated the effect of encoding a secondary intention on the aftereffects of non-relevant prospective intentions. The study used an active phase-finished phase paradigm with participants randomly assigned to either experimental or control conditions. In the experimental condition, participants encoded a secondary intention in the finished phase of the task. In the control condition, participants did not encode any additional instructions. Commission errors and response latencies were analysed in the finished phase for fulfilled intentions or encoded but unfulfilled intentions. Independent sample t-tests found significant (p<0.05) differences between experimental and control groups. Suspended cues displayed a higher accessibility due to anticipatory monitoring and pending response action, and also resulted in more commission errors in comparison to repeat cues.