Stimulus-related priming during task switching

Sohn, Myeong-Ho; Anderson, John R. · 2003 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.3758/bf03196115

archive: archived pipeline: cataloged verified

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Summary

This study investigates the components of task-switching costs, specifically isolating the contribution of stimulus-related priming. Task-switching costs—the performance deficit when switching tasks compared to repeating them—are typically attributed to both executive preparation failures and automatic priming of the previous task. The authors aimed to determine whether stimulus-related processes, such as encoding and identification, constitute a significant portion of this cost, how long such priming persists, and whether it interacts with goal-driven executive preparation. To address these questions, the researchers employed a modified task-switching paradigm with 83 participants. The design manipulated two key variables: task overlap and response-to-stimulus interval (RSI). In the "full-overlap" condition, participants performed complete letter or number categorization tasks. In the "partial-overlap" condition, the first task involved only stimulus encoding and target identification (naming the letter or number), while the second task required full categorization. This allowed the isolation of stimulus-related priming from response-related processes. The study also varied the RSI between 500 ms and 2,000 ms to assess the decay of priming effects and manipulated foreknowledge of the upcoming task to examine executive control interactions. The results demonstrated that switch costs were significantly smaller in the partial-overlap condition than in the full-overlap condition, confirming that stimulus-related priming is a distinct component of the overall switch cost. Crucially, the switch cost in the partial-overlap condition disappeared entirely at the 2,000-ms RSI, whereas the cost in the full-overlap condition remained significant. This indicates that stimulus-related priming is short-lived and dissipates over time, unlike the persistent residual switch cost associated with full task switching. Furthermore, the switch cost did not interact with foreknowledge, suggesting that executive preparation based on advance cues operates independently of automatic stimulus priming. These findings imply that task-switching costs are composed of multiple distinct processes. Stimulus-related priming is automatic, short-lived, and not subject to executive control. In contrast, the persistent portion of the switch cost likely stems from response-related processes or higher-level task-set reconfiguration, which are resistant to simple temporal decay and are influenced by executive preparation. The study concludes that while stimulus priming contributes to immediate switching deficits, it does not account for the enduring costs observed in task-switching paradigms.

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• task switching