title: Voluntary task switching: chasing the elusive homunculus.
abstract: In the voluntary task switching procedure, subjects choose the task to perform on a series of bivalent stimuli, requiring top-down control of task switching. Experiments 1-3 contrasted voluntary task switching and explicit task cuing. Choice behavior showed small, inconsistent effects of external stimulus characteristics, supporting the assumption of top-down control of task choice. Switch costs were smaller when subjects chose to switch tasks than when instructed by an external cue. Experiments 4-6 separated choice costs from switch costs. These findings support models of task switching that incorporate top-down processes in accounts of switch costs. The degree to which task switching procedures capture top-down versus bottom-up processes may depend on the extent of environmental support provided by the procedure.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, 111 21st Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37203, USA. kate.arrington@lehigh.edu
authors.forename: Catherine M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Arrington
authors.forename: Gordon D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Logan
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003210:Concept Formation; D003657:Decision Making; D006801:Humans; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011340:Problem Solving; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011930:Reaction Time; D012718:Set, Psychology