Fractionating task-switch costs: a multi-component model of task switching
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1
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany
Switching between different tasks induces reaction time costs relative to task repetitions. The task-switch costs were interpreted as a time it takes to switch between the task-set representations of the previously relevant task and the current task. We investigated whether the task-switch costs reflect a single cognitive operation or several operations related to different components of a task-set (e.g., task-relevant stimulus set and task-specific stimulus-response mappings). We used a task-switching paradigm where two tasks, specified by a word-cue prior to the stimulus onset, alternated randomly across trials. Identical displays were used for both tasks: an array of 36 vertical, yellow bars that, on some trials, contained a different bar (a singleton). The singleton, when present, differed from the other items either in color (green or blue vertical bar) or in orientation (left- or right-tilted yellow). In the detection task participants indicated the presence/absence of the singleton; in the discrimination task participants indicated the singleton’s feature. Across two trials the task either repeated or changed and, independently of the task sequence, the singleton’s dimension (color or orientation) also repeated or changed. Behaviorally, the task-switch costs (i.e., task-switch - task-repetition) decreased when the dimension repeated (e.g., color-color) relative to when the dimension changed (e.g., orientation-color). Moreover, dimension repetitions, relative to dimension changes, were associated with shorter peak latencies of the N2pc ERP component both when the task repeated and changed. Our findings suggest that task-switching consists of at least two dissociable processes: (i) switching between stimulus-sets, and (ii) stimulus-response mappings.
Keywords:
Cognition,
task-switching
Conference:
XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI), Palma, Mallorca, Spain, 25 Sep - 29 Sep, 2011.
Presentation Type:
Poster Presentation
Topic:
Poster Sessions: Neurophysiology of Cognition and Attention
Citation:
Rangelov
D,
Töllner
T,
Zehetleitner
M and
Müller
HJ
(2011). Fractionating task-switch costs: a multi-component model of task switching.
Conference Abstract:
XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI).
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2011.207.00303
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Received:
22 Nov 2011;
Published Online:
28 Nov 2011.
*
Correspondence:
Dr. Dragan Rangelov, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, München, Germany, d.rangelov@uq.edu.au