Effect of arousal increase in predictable and random task switching: evidence for the involvement of the anterior attentional network in random but not in predictable task switching.
Switch cost does not disappear as more preparation time for the next task is allowed. Tornay and Mil&aacute;n showed that the residual cost is smaller when tasks switch randomly than when they alternate in predictable sequences. They proposed that the difference was due to control mechanisms (anterior attentional network) being activated in the random condition because of its overall difficulty. Besides, it has been shown that increasing arousal levels inhibits the anterior attentional network. Therefore, Tornay and Mil&aacute;n's account predicts that high arousal should result in switch cost for the random condition increasing to the levels of predictable switching. In this work, this prediction was tested by assessing the interaction between increased arousal and switch cost with both predictable and random-task switching. The results may help to solve the ongoing controversy about the causes of switch cost.
Universidad de Granada, Facultad de Educación y Humanidades, Melilla, Spain. casolano@ugr.es
César Augusto
CA
Solano Galvis
Francisco
F
Tornay Mejías
Emilio
E
Gómez Milán
D000328:Adult; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D011897:Random Allocation; D011930:Reaction Time; D055815:Young Adult