Local and global control adjustments to stimulus-based task conflict in task switching

Moretti, Luca; Koch, Iring; Schuch, Stefanie · 2023 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.1177/17470218231200442

archive: archived pipeline: cataloged verified

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Summary

This study investigates whether cognitive control mechanisms adapt flexibly to stimulus-based task conflict in task-switching paradigms, similar to established patterns in response-conflict tasks. While response conflict (e.g., Stroop, Simon) is known to trigger both local adjustments (congruency sequence effects) and global adjustments (proportion-congruency effects), it remained unclear if these flexible control mechanisms apply to task conflict, where interference arises from competing task representations rather than competing responses. The authors aimed to determine if control is upregulated reactively following conflict trials and proactively in blocks with high conflict likelihood, and whether these adjustments are task-specific or task-general. The researchers conducted two pre-registered experiments using a task-switching paradigm where participants alternated between judging the color or character of stimuli. Stimuli were either bivalent (affording both tasks, creating task conflict) or univalent (affording only one task). Task conflict was measured via the "valency effect," defined as the performance difference between bivalent congruent and univalent trials. Experiment 1 examined local control by analyzing trial-by-trial sequences, while Experiment 2 examined global control by manipulating the proportion of bivalent trials within blocks. To avoid confounds from episodic retrieval and response conflict, stimuli were never repeated within blocks, and incongruent trials were excluded from analyses. The results supported the hypothesis that cognitive control adapts to task conflict similarly to response conflict. First, a valency sequence effect was observed: the valency effect was reduced following bivalent trials, indicating reactive control upregulation. Crucially, this local adjustment was limited to task-repetition trials, demonstrating that reactive control is task-specific and does not transfer to subsequent task switches. Second, a proportion valency effect was found: task conflict was reduced in blocks where bivalent trials were the majority, indicating proactive control recruitment. However, unlike the local effect, this global adjustment was limited to task-switch trials. These findings suggest that while both local and global control mechanisms operate in task switching, they rely on distinct processes with different task-specificity profiles. The study concludes that flexible cognitive control is not exclusive to response conflict but also governs stimulus-based task conflict. The dissociation between the task-specific nature of local adjustments and the task-switch-specific nature of global adjustments provides new insights into the dual-mode theory of control. It suggests that reactive control relies on transient, task-specific mechanisms, whereas proactive control in task switching may involve sustained preparation for the upcoming task switch itself. This work extends previous Stroop-based findings to the more ecologically valid task-switching context, clarifying the boundaries and mechanisms of adaptive cognitive control.

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Topics

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• task switching
• executive function