A second technique for distinguishing between motivational and semantic activation processes is based on the principle of goal satiation, according to which goal activation should decrease in strength once the goal has been fulfilled (Atkinson and Birch 1974/1983; Fo¨rster, Liberman,and Higgins 2005; Marsh et al. 1998). Such a decrease should not occur for semantic activation. This goal satiation paradigm is used in study 3 where, in addition to collecting temporal escalation measures, participants are asked to make two real sequential choices between options that differ along the same goal-relevant dimension. To the extent that the activated construct driving behavior is a goal, prior research suggests that making a real goal-fulfilling choice in the first task should decrease the tendency to make another goalconsistent choice in the second task. If the activated construct is a mere semantic representation, then choice in the second task should not decrease following choice in the first task. It is important to note that the principle of goal gradients (see Fo¨rster et al. [2007]; Kivetz, Urminsky, and Zheng [2006] for reviews) implies that motivation to attain a goal should only decrease when the ensuing goal-related behavior is perceived as fulfilling the goal. We therefore adapt a satiation paradigm that has been found to be effective in prior research on consumer choice (Chartrand et al. 2008,study 3).