Repeated response execution and inhibition alter subjective preferences but do not affect automatic approach and avoidance tendencies toward an object.

Background: Repeated action or inaction toward objects changes preferences for those objects. However, it remains unclear whether such training activates approach-avoidance motivation toward the objects, which leads to actual behavior. We conducted a pre-registered online experiment to examine whether approach and avoidance tendencies were affected by the experience of having executed or withheld a button-press response to a stimulus. Methods: Participants ( Results: The Go-primed item was evaluated as more highly preferable than the unprimed item in the Go condition, while the NoGo-primed item was evaluated as less preferable than the unprimed item in the NoGo condition. In contrast, the mean approach/avoidance reaction times in the manikin task showed no difference between the Go-primed and unprimed stimuli or between the NoGo-primed and unprimed stimuli. Conclusion: When participants repeatedly responded or inhibited their responses to an object, their explicit preference for the object increased or decreased, respectively. However, the effect did not occur in approach-avoidance behaviors toward the object.