Sequential task predictability in task switching.
Many studies of task switching have found that a prolonged preparation time reduces switch costs. An alternative manipulation of task preparation is based on sequential task predictability, rather than preparation time. In Experiments 1 and 2 of the present study, participants performed explicitly instructed task sequences (i.e., AABB) and were then transferred to a random sequence. The observed benefit of predictability-based task preparation was not switch specific. In Experiment 3, the participants changed from random to predictable tasks. The observed predictability benefit again was not switch specific. The data thus suggest that task switching does not necessarily require a switch-specific reconfiguration process. Rather, task-specific control processes may be needed in both task switches and repetitions.
Koch
Iring
I
Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Munich, Germany. iring.koch@cbs.mpg.de
D001245:Association Learning; D001288:Attention; D032882:Comprehension; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D006801:Humans; D007721:Knowledge of Results, Psychological; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011337:Probability Learning; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011601:Psychophysics; D011930:Reaction Time; D012691:Serial Learning; D014163:Transfer, Psychology