When the voluntary mind meets the irresistible event: Stimulus–response correspondence effects on task selection during voluntary task switching

Chen, Poyu; Hsieh, Shulan · 2013 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.3758/s13423-013-0437-9

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 how inherent stimulus characteristics bias voluntary task selection, specifically examining whether stimulus–response (S–R) correspondence effects influence the choice of task in a voluntary task-switching (VTS) paradigm. The research addresses the interplay between top-down intentional control and bottom-up automatic processes, testing the Theory of Event Coding (TEC) prediction that stimuli and responses bind into a common code when their representations overlap. The authors aimed to determine if the spatial representation of digits (the mental number line) interacts with spatially arranged response codes to bias task selection, even when participants are instructed to choose tasks randomly. The experiment involved 48 participants who performed magnitude (greater/less than 5) and parity (odd/even) tasks on digits 1–9. Participants were assigned to one of two response layout conditions: horizontal (inner/outer fingers) or vertical (upper/lower fingers). Within each layout, mapping groups reversed the assignment of tasks to fingers. The horizontal layout was designed to overlap with the inherent left-to-right spatial representation of numbers, whereas the vertical layout did not. Participants completed both VTS trials, where they freely chose the task, and cued task-switching (CUE) trials, where the task was explicitly signaled. This design allowed the researchers to distinguish between biases in task selection and biases in task execution performance. The results demonstrated a significant S–R correspondence effect on task selection only in the horizontal layout condition. Participants were more likely to select the task whose response code corresponded to the digit’s spatial representation (e.g., choosing the magnitude task for “outer” digits when magnitude was mapped to outer fingers). No such selection bias occurred in the vertical layout condition, where response codes did not overlap with the digit’s spatial representation. Crucially, reaction time analyses showed that task performance was comparable between mapping groups in both VTS and CUE paradigms, indicating that the selection bias was not a byproduct of faster execution times for correspondent tasks. The effect persisted regardless of preparation time, suggesting it operates automatically. These findings extend previous research on S–R binding by demonstrating that inherent stimulus features, such as the mental number line, can involuntarily bias voluntary action selection when they share a common code with response representations. The study supports the view that task selection and task execution are governed by distinct cognitive mechanisms. It implies that voluntary action control is not purely intentional but is significantly modulated by automatic, stimulus-driven associations, challenging models that assume voluntary choices are immune to such bottom-up influences.

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