Contextual Features of the Cue Enter Episodic Bindings in Task Switching

Benini, Elena; Koch, Iring; Mayr, Susanne; Frings, Christian; Philipp, Andrea M. · 2022 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.5334/joc.220

archive: archived pipeline: cataloged verified

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Summary

This study investigates whether task-irrelevant contextual features of a stimulus cue become bound with task-relevant features and executed responses in episodic memory, influencing performance in task-switching paradigms. The research addresses the theoretical question of how associative binding mechanisms, such as those described by the Binding and Retrieval in Action Control (BRAC) framework, extend beyond perceptual features to abstract contextual dimensions. Specifically, the authors examined whether repeating a contextual feature retrieves the previous trial’s task-response binding, thereby modulating the response-repetition (RR) effect, where repeating a response typically benefits task repetitions but incurs costs in task switches. The researchers conducted two experiments using a cued task-switching design where participants categorized German words as either living/non-living or bigger/smaller than a shoebox. In Experiment 1, the contextual feature was cue modality (visual vs. auditory), while in Experiment 2, it was cue language (English vs. Spanish), with targets always presented visually in German. Experiment 1 involved 48 participants, and Experiment 2 involved 43 multilingual participants. The experimental design manipulated task relation (repetition vs. switch), response relation (repetition vs. switch), and context relation (repetition vs. switch) to test for interactions between these factors. The results demonstrated that contextual features significantly modulated the RR effect. In Experiment 1, response-repetition benefits in task repetitions were significant when the cue modality repeated but disappeared when the modality switched. Similarly, in Experiment 2, the RR benefits in task repetitions were modulated by the repetition or switch of the cue language. These findings indicate that even though cue modality and language were task-irrelevant and did not afford a specific response, they were bound with the task and response in episodic memory. When the context repeated, it triggered the retrieval of the previous trial’s binding, facilitating performance if the response also repeated. Conversely, context switches disrupted this retrieval process. The significance of these findings lies in the demonstration that episodic binding in action control is not limited to perceptual features but extends to abstract, conceptual features like language. The results support the view that binding and retrieval processes are ubiquitous in action control, automatically associating all available stimulus features with responses. This suggests that the cognitive system integrates irrelevant contextual information into coherent mental representations of episodes, which are then retrieved upon re-encountering any feature of that episode. The study provides empirical evidence that context-specific binding mechanisms play a crucial role in explaining performance patterns in multitasking situations, refining our understanding of how humans manage complex, dynamic environments through associative learning.

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• task switching