title: Effects of a no-go Task 2 on Task 1 performance in dual - tasking: From benefits to costs.
abstract: When two tasks are combined in a dual-task experiment, characteristics of Task 2 can influence Task 1 performance, a phenomenon termed the backward crosstalk effect (BCE). Besides instances depending on the (spatial) compatibility of both responses, a particularly interesting example was introduced by Miller (2006): If Task 2 was a no-go task (i.e., one not requiring any action at all), responses were slowed in Task 1. Subsequent work, however, also reported the opposite result-that is, faster Task 1 responses in cases of no-go Task 2 trials. We report three experiments aiming to more precisely identify the conditions under which a no-go Task 2 facilitates or impedes Task 1 performance. The results suggest that an adverse no-go BCE is only observed when the Task 2 response(s) are sufficiently prepared in advance, yielding strong inhibitory control demands for Task 2 that eventually hamper Task 1 processing as well (i.e., inhibitory costs). If this is not the case, encountering a no-go Task 2 trial facilitates Task 1 performance, suggesting that the underlying task representation is reduced to a single - task. These results are discussed in the context of other recent work on BCEs and of recently suggested accounts of the no-go BCE.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Schleichstraße 4, 72076, Tübingen, Germany. markus.janczyk@uni-tuebingen.de.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Janczyk
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Julius Maximilians University, Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Lynn
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Huestegge
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Backward crosstalk; Dual - task; Inhibition; No-go; Preparation