The role of inhibition in task switching: A review

Koch, Iring; Gade, Miriam; Schuch, Stefanie; Philipp, Andrea M. · 2010 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.3758/pbr.17.1.1

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Summary

This review article examines the role of inhibition in task switching, a core mechanism in cognitive psychology for managing competing task sets. The authors address the ambiguity surrounding whether inhibitory processes are necessary to explain performance deficits during task switching or if these effects can be attributed to non-inhibitory mechanisms, such as persisting activation or interference. The review is motivated by the need to critically evaluate empirical evidence to determine if inhibition is a distinct, identifiable process in executive control. The authors analyze data from task-switching paradigms, focusing on two primary phenomena: switch-cost asymmetries and n-2 task-repetition costs. Switch-cost asymmetries refer to the observation that switching to a dominant task incurs higher costs than switching to a weaker task. The authors argue that these asymmetries are ambiguous because they can be explained by models involving task priming and baseline activation levels without invoking specific inhibitory mechanisms. Consequently, the review shifts focus to n-2 repetition costs, which occur when a task is repeated after one intervening task (ABA sequence) compared to a sequence with two intervening tasks (CBA). This paradigm is identified as the most robust evidence for task inhibition, as it demonstrates a performance impairment consistent with the persisting inhibition of a previously abandoned task set. The findings indicate that n-2 repetition costs are robust across various experimental conditions, including tasks differing in stimulus dimensions, response modalities, and language switching. The authors review studies using 2:1 cue-to-task mappings to dissociate cue encoding from task set inhibition, concluding that n-2 costs reflect inhibition of the task set itself rather than the cue representation. Furthermore, the review dismisses alternative explanations, such as sequential expectancies or persisting activation, noting that n-2 costs persist even when task sequences are fully predictable or when preparation intervals are manipulated. The evidence suggests that inhibition is primarily triggered by conflict at the level of stimulus attribute selection and response execution, rather than solely by top-down cue processing. The significance of this review lies in its clarification of the theoretical status of inhibition in cognitive control. By demonstrating that switch-cost asymmetries do not unequivocally support inhibitory accounts, the authors highlight the necessity of using n-2 repetition costs as the primary empirical signature for task inhibition. The conclusion that inhibition is triggered by conflict during task performance rather than just by task cues refines existing models of executive function. This distinction is crucial for understanding how the cognitive system manages interference and for interpreting findings in related fields, such as bilingual language control and clinical assessments of inhibitory deficits.

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Topics

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• task switching
• executive function