Online order control in the psychological refractory period paradigm.

Luria, Roy; Meiran, Nachshon · 2003 · Crossref

DOI: 10.1037/0096-1523.29.3.556

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Summary

This study investigates the role of online order control in the psychological refractory period (PRP) paradigm, addressing whether explicit subtask order information is activated during the initial stages of multistep tasks. The authors challenge Pashler’s dominant model of the PRP effect, which attributes dual-task interference solely to a structural bottleneck in response selection without referencing order control. Instead, the authors propose that participants maintain an explicit representation of subtask order (e.g., color-then-letter vs. letter-then-color) that is activated prior to subtask execution. This hypothesis is tested by examining whether switching subtask order between trials incurs a performance cost and whether this cost is modulated by advance preparation. The research employed three experiments using a PRP task where participants responded to two stimuli (a color patch and a letter) presented in rapid succession. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants switched between two subtask orders: color–letter and letter–color. Crucially, the stimuli and responses for the subtasks were univalent (non-overlapping), isolating order switching as the only variable changing between trials. The design allowed for the decomposition of performance costs into "mixing cost" (general cost of random order) and "switching cost" (specific cost of changing order relative to the previous trial). Experiment 1 manipulated the response–cue interval to test for the dissipation of order representations, while Experiment 3 examined whether order preparation was distinct from hand-order preparation. The results demonstrated that switching subtask order significantly impaired reaction times for both responses and modulated the magnitude of the PRP effect. Specifically, an order-switching cost was observed, indicating that participants activated a representation of the global task set rather than treating subtasks as independent single-step tasks. Importantly, this switching cost was reduced by advance preparation, providing evidence that order representation is activated before the subtasks themselves are executed. Experiment 3 confirmed that this preparation was specific to subtask order and not merely hand order. Furthermore, there was no evidence that subtask order information dissipated between trials, suggesting persistent activation. These findings have significant implications for theories of dual-task performance and task switching. They contradict Pashler’s model by showing that the PRP effect is not solely due to a structural bottleneck but is also influenced by online order control mechanisms. The presence of switching costs and their reduction through preparation support the "changing mode" hypothesis in task switching, arguing that switching costs reflect changes in processing modes rather than mere changes in readiness. The study establishes that explicit order information is a critical component of cognitive control in multistep tasks, activated early in the processing sequence to guide subsequent actions.

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Topics

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• task switching
• dual task multitasking