Response-repetition costs in task switching do not index a simple response-switch bias: Evidence from manipulating the number of response alternatives

Iring Koch; Eliot Hazeltine; Greta Petersen; Daniel H Weissman

doi:10.3758/s13414-023-02708-2

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Response-repetition costs in task switching do not index a simple response-switch bias: Evidence from manipulating the number of response alternatives

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Response-repetition costs in task switching do not index a simple response-switch bias: Evidence from manipulating the number of response alternatives

Iring Koch, Eliot Hazeltine, Greta Petersen and Daniel H Weissman

Attention, perception & psychophysics, Vol.85(8), pp.2577-2587

11/2023

DOI: 10.3758/s13414-023-02708-2

PMCID: PMC10600293

PMID: 37147509

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Abstract

Response repetitions aid performance when a task repeats but impair performance when a task switches. Although this interaction is robust, theoretical accounts remain controversial. Here, we used an un-cued, predictable task-switching paradigm with univalent targets to explore whether a simple bias to switch the response when the task switches can explain the interaction. In Experiment 1A (n = 40), we replicated the basic interaction in a two-choice task. In Experiment 1B (n = 60), we observed the same interaction in a three-choice task, wherein a bias to switch the response when the task switches cannot prime a specific alternative response because both remaining response alternatives are equally likely. Exploratory comparisons revealed a larger interaction between task repetition and response repetition in the three-choice task than in the two-choice task for mean response time (RT) and the opposite pattern for mean error rate (ER). Critically, in the three-choice task, response-repetition costs in task switches were significant in both RT and ER. Since a bias to switch the response cannot prime a specific response alternative in a three-choice task, we conclude that such a bias cannot account for response-repetition costs in task-switch trials.

Repetition effects

Task switching or executive control

Cognitive and attentional control

Details

Title: Subtitle: Response-repetition costs in task switching do not index a simple response-switch bias: Evidence from manipulating the number of response alternatives
Creators: Iring Koch - RWTH Aachen University
Eliot Hazeltine - University of Iowa
Greta Petersen - RWTH Aachen University
Daniel H Weissman - University of Michigan
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Attention, perception & psychophysics, Vol.85(8), pp.2577-2587
DOI: 10.3758/s13414-023-02708-2
PMID: 37147509
PMCID: PMC10600293
NLM abbreviation: Atten Percept Psychophys
ISSN: 1943-3921
eISSN: 1943-393X
Grant note: DOI: 10.13039/501100007210, name: RWTH Aachen University
Language: English
Electronic publication date: 05/05/2023
Date published: 11/2023
Academic Unit: Psychological and Brain Sciences; Iowa Neuroscience Institute
Record Identifier: 9984400640202771

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