title: Shifting Attention Between Visual Dimensions as a Source of Switch Costs.
abstract: Task-switching experiments have documented a puzzling phenomenon: Advance warning of the switch reduces but does not eliminate the switch cost. Theoretical accounts have posited that the residual switch cost arises when one selects the relevant stimulus-response mapping, leaving earlier perceptual processes unaffected. We put this assumption to the test by seeking electrophysiological markers of encoding a perceptual dimension. Participants categorized a colored letter as a vowel or consonant or its color as "warm" or "cold." Orthogonally to the color manipulation, some colors were eight times more frequent than others, and the letters were in upper- or lowercase. Color frequency modulated the electroencephalogram amplitude at around 150 ms when participants repeated the color-classification task. When participants switched from the letter task to the color task, this effect was significantly delayed. Thus, even when prepared for, a task switch delays or prolongs encoding of the relevant perceptual dimension.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Psychology, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter.
authors.forename: Heike
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Elchlepp
authors.affiliation: 2 Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, University of Glasgow.
authors.forename: Maisy
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Best
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Psychology, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter.
authors.forename: Aureliu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lavric
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Psychology, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter.
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Monsell
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D003118:Color Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: attention; cognition; evoked potentials; open data; open materials