Excessive response-repetition costs under task switching: How response inhibition amplifies response conflict.

Grzyb, Kai Robin; Hübner, Ronald · 2012 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.1037/a0028477

archive: archived pipeline: cataloged verified

Get this paper ↗ (DOI — opens at the source; we link to it, we don't host it)

Summary

This study investigates the mechanisms underlying response-repetition (RR) costs in task-switching paradigms, specifically addressing why these costs are larger for bivalent stimuli (associated with two tasks) than for univalent stimuli (associated with one task). The authors aim to determine whether this variation is driven by top-down strategic adjustments based on the global risk of perseveration or by bottom-up, stimulus-driven processes. The research tests the "amplification of response conflict" account, which posits that the basic mechanism causing RR costs (response inhibition) amplifies current response conflict, thereby increasing the cost. The researchers conducted four experiments using a sequential two-task procedure involving parity and consonant/vowel judgments. Stimuli were constructed as three-item arrays to manipulate valency (univalent vs. bivalent) and congruency (neutral, congruent, incongruent). Experiment 1 established baselines by comparing RR costs across different stimulus types in a between-groups design. Experiment 2 tested the top-down hypothesis by manipulating the proportion of bivalent-incongruent stimuli within blocks to see if participants strategically adjusted inhibition levels. Experiments 3 and 4 further tested the bottom-up hypothesis by examining the influence of previous-trial congruency and using univalent stimuli that induced response conflict. The results demonstrated that RR costs were consistently larger for bivalent-incongruent stimuli compared to neutral univalent stimuli. Crucially, Experiment 2 showed that these costs were independent of the proportion of stimulus types, ruling out a top-down strategic explanation based on global perseveration risk. Instead, the findings supported a bottom-up mechanism: RR costs increased when the current stimulus induced response conflict. Experiment 3 confirmed that the magnitude of RR costs varied with previous-trial congruency, and Experiment 4 showed that even univalent stimuli could produce increased RR costs if they induced response conflict. These results indicate that response inhibition is not rigidly adjusted by top-down control but is instead modulated by local, stimulus-driven factors. The study concludes that excessive RR costs under task switching are best explained by an amplification of response conflict. The basic mechanism of response inhibition, intended to counteract perseverative biases, amplifies the conflict generated by the current stimulus, leading to higher costs. This finding challenges models that rely on top-down strategic adjustments of inhibition strength and supports accounts where bottom-up processes, such as self-inhibition triggered by activated units, play a critical role in sequential action control. The implications suggest that cognitive control in task switching is more sensitive to immediate stimulus properties than previously assumed.

Provenance

The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed.

Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-25; verification: verified.

Topics

Ranked by relevance to this paper. Hover a topic for its definition.

• task switching