When pulling my finger off a string, it usually moves toward my palm unless going for a muted attack on the note. The sound (at least with my fat fingers) is much louder and abrupt when the string pops out from under the fingernail side of the tip, and significantly quieter and voiced when it slides out the other direction.

When bending a string, I almost always slide it towards the center of the neck. The direction of release and bend sometimes get adapted to accomodate each other, especially if the bent note is part of a legato passage.

~G~