Positive and negative action-effects improve task-switching performance

Ludwig, Jonas; Dignath, David; Lukas, Sarah · 2021 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2021.103440

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Summary

This study investigates how the affective valence of action-effects influences performance in a multitasking environment, specifically within a cued task-switching paradigm. Motivated by the Theory of Event Coding, which posits that actions are controlled by the anticipation of their consequences, the authors sought to determine whether positive and negative outcomes become integrated into task representations and thereby modulate switch costs. While prior research established that stable response-effect associations facilitate task differentiation, it remained unclear how the hedonic quality of these effects—positive versus negative—distinctly impacts cognitive control during task switching. The researchers conducted a pre-registered experiment with 120 participants using a mixed factorial design. Participants performed two numerical judgment tasks (parity and magnitude) cued by color. The study comprised a learning phase, where correct responses consistently triggered specific action-effects, and a test phase, where these associations were suspended and effects occurred randomly. Affective valence was manipulated between subjects using images from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS). In the positive and negative conditions, one task was paired with highly pleasant or unpleasant images, while the other was paired with neutral images. Control conditions included neutral images for both tasks or non-affective geometric shapes. Reaction times and error rates were analyzed using linear mixed-effect models to assess switch costs (the performance difference between task-switch and task-repetition trials) across phases. The results demonstrated that affective valence significantly determined reaction times. Participants in both positive and negative valence conditions responded faster than those in the control condition, particularly during task-switch trials, while task-repetition trials remained comparable across groups. Crucially, the mechanisms underlying these improvements differed by valence. Negative action-effects expedited responses specifically for the task associated with the unpleasant outcome, suggesting a targeted avoidance mechanism. In contrast, positive affect promoted performance more generally across both tasks. The findings indicate that while both positive and negative outcomes improve task-switching performance relative to neutral controls, they do so through distinct motivational processes: negative valence drives specific task avoidance, whereas positive valence enhances overall task engagement. These findings contribute to the understanding of action control by highlighting the distinct roles of positive and negative valence in regulating multitasking performance. The study supports the notion that affective action-effects are integrated into cognitive task sets, but challenges the idea that negative outcomes are merely inhibitory. Instead, negative effects can facilitate performance by sharpening focus on specific tasks to avoid unpleasant consequences, while positive effects provide a broader motivational boost. This distinction clarifies the complex interplay between emotion and cognition in dynamic environments, suggesting that the hedonic quality of outcomes is a critical factor in how individuals manage competing tasks.

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• task switching