Different impact of task switching and response-category conflict on subsequent memory

Muhmenthaler, Michèle C.; Meier, Beat · 2019 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.1007/s00426-019-01274-3

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Summary

This study investigates how distinct types of cognitive control demands—specifically task switching and response-category conflict—affect subsequent long-term memory. While previous research has shown mixed results regarding whether cognitive conflict enhances or impairs memory, this paper aims to disentangle these effects by combining task-switching paradigms with manipulations of stimulus congruency. The authors hypothesized that task switching would impair memory due to reduced attentional resources for encoding, while response-category conflict might enhance memory by triggering strategic attentional focus on target stimuli. The research comprised four experiments using a free recall design. In the study phase, participants performed semantic classification tasks (e.g., animal vs. object) on one of two spatially interleaved words, ignoring the other. The experimental design manipulated trial type (repeat vs. switch) and stimulus congruency. Experiment 1 utilized perceptual incongruency (different words from the same category), while Experiments 2–4 introduced response-category conflict (words requiring different responses). Experiment 3 specifically blocked congruent and incongruent stimuli to foster specific attentional strategies, and Experiment 4 controlled for potential confounds related to stimulus categories. The results demonstrated that task switching consistently impaired memory performance across all experiments, supporting the view that high control demands withdraw attention from target encoding. However, the impact of conflict depended on its nature and presentation. In Experiment 1, perceptual incongruency also impaired memory, likely due to increased perceptual load spreading attention to distractors. In contrast, Experiments 2–4 revealed that response-category conflict enhanced memory performance, but only when conflict stimuli were presented in pure blocks (Experiment 3). This suggests that the memory benefit from conflict is not automatic but relies on the adoption of specific attentional policies. When participants could strategically focus attention on targets to resolve response conflict, encoding was strengthened. The findings imply that the relationship between cognitive control and memory is mediated by attentional allocation. Task switching reduces top-down attention to targets, leading to poorer memory. Conversely, response-category conflict can enhance memory if it prompts participants to selectively focus attention on task-relevant information. The study concludes that memory performance is determined by whether cognitive demands lead to the withdrawal of attention from encoding or the strategic reinforcement of attention on targets. This clarifies previous contradictory findings by distinguishing between perceptual load, which harms memory, and response conflict, which can benefit memory under specific strategic conditions.

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• task switching