Instruction-based response activation depends on task preparation

An increasing number of studies have demonstrated that a response in one task can be activated automatically on the basis merely of instructed stimulus–response (S–R) mappings belonging to another task. Such instruction-based response activations are considered to be evidence for the formation of S–R associations on the basis of the S–R mappings for an upcoming, but not yet executed, task. A crucial but somewhat neglected assumption is that instructed S–R associations are formed only under conditions that impose a sufficient degree of task preparation. Accordingly, in the present study we investigated the relation between task preparation and the instruction-based task-rule congruency effect, which is an index of response activation on the basis of instructions. The results from two experiments demonstrated that merely instructed S–R mappings of a particular task only elicit instruction-based response activations when that task is prepared for to a sufficient degree. Implications are discussed for the representation of instructed S–R mappings in working memory.