Inferring the Components of Residual Switch Costs

There are many theories that have attempted to explain the underlying mechanisms of task switching. While these theories have furthered the understanding of switch costs, there are inconsistencies that prevent an all-encompassing explanation. Dykstra et al. (in prep) provided evidence which suggests that switch costs may vary depending on the type of task performed. While this finding is interesting, the probability of switches were not equal between tasks. This may have altered switch costs. The present study utilized the inferred switch task from Dykstra et al. (in prep) and adjusted the switch probabilities to match the comparison task. We found that even after corrections were made, the inferred switch cost was still greater than the comparison switch cost. This finding may help clarify current theories of task switching.