Sequential effects in visual search, action control, and task switching: Evidence for distinct episodic-retrieval mechanisms.

-2) influenced performance only when the task repeated from these trials. By contrast, location-response binding effects were largely unaffected by task preparation or by trials earlier than the previous one. These findings are consistent with two different episodic-retrieval mechanisms. A proactive and task-dependent episodic-retrieval mechanism accounts for the attentional bias toward previous target locations documented in the visual-search literature. An episodic-retrieval mechanism that is largely task-independent and operates later accounts for the binding-and-retrieval effects documented in the action-control literature. Our findings also provide novel evidence for task preparation and task inertia in task switching. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).