Persisting activation in voluntary task switching: It all depends on the instructions

Liefooghe, Baptist; Demanet, Jelle; Vandierendonck, André · 2010 · Crossref

DOI: 10.3758/pbr.17.3.381

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Summary

This study investigates the cognitive mechanisms underlying the "switch cost" in voluntary task switching, specifically testing whether this cost arises from task reconfiguration or from persisting activation of previously executed tasks. In task-switching paradigms, performance is typically slower on switch trials than on repetition trials. Two competing theories explain this: the reconfiguration view, which posits that time is needed to set up the new task, and the persisting activation view, which argues that residual activation from the previous task interferes with the new one. The latter view is supported by asymmetric switch costs in externally cued switching (where switching to a less automatic task incurs a higher cost), but its role in voluntary switching—where participants self-select tasks—remains debated. The authors hypothesized that voluntary switching requires the active inhibition of previous tasks to ensure random selection, thereby minimizing persisting activation and eliminating asymmetric switch costs. To test this, fifty participants were divided into two groups performing voluntary switches between color naming and word naming using Stroop stimuli. The "standard" group received instructions to select unpredictable, random task sequences, while the "modified" group received no such instruction. Participants responded manually via keyboard, and response times and accuracy were recorded across five blocks of trials. The experimental design allowed for the comparison of switch costs between the two tasks under conditions that either encouraged or did not encourage random task selection. The results revealed a significant three-way interaction between condition, task, and transition type. In the standard condition, where participants were instructed to be unpredictable, no asymmetric switch cost was observed; the switch cost was similar for both word and color naming. Conversely, in the modified condition, a significant asymmetric switch cost emerged, with switching to word naming being significantly slower and less accurate than switching to color naming. Additionally, participants in the standard condition selected tasks equally often, whereas those in the modified condition repeated color naming more frequently. An additional experiment with externally cued switching confirmed that asymmetric switch costs are robust in non-voluntary contexts, highlighting that the absence of asymmetry in the standard voluntary condition was due to the specific demands of random selection. The authors conclude that persisting activation does not contribute to the switch cost in voluntary task switching when participants are instructed to generate random sequences. Instead, the requirement for unpredictability necessitates the active inhibition of previously executed tasks, effectively neutralizing residual activation. Consequently, the switch cost in this context reflects the time required for task reconfiguration rather than interference compensation. This finding suggests that voluntary task switching, under standard instructions, provides a cleaner measure of reconfiguration processes, free from the confounding effects of persisting activation that complicate externally cued paradigms.

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Topics

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• task switching
• executive function