Sequential task predictability in task switching.

Iring Koch

doi:10.3758/bf03196354

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Sequential task predictability in task switching.

Iring Koch

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Abstract

Many studies of task switching have found that a prolonged preparation time reduces switch costs. An alternative manipulation of task preparation is based on sequential task predictability, rather than preparation time. In Experiments 1 and 2 of the present study, participants performed explicitly instructed task sequences (i.e., AABB) and were then transferred to a random sequence. The observed benefit of predictability-based task preparation was not switch specific. In Experiment 3, the participants changed from random to predictable tasks. The observed predictability benefit again was not switch specific. The data thus suggest that task switching does not necessarily require a switch-specific reconfiguration process. Rather, task-specific control processes may be needed in both task switches and repetitions.

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Association Learning Attention Comprehension Discrimination Learning Humans Knowledge of Results, Psychological Memory, Short-Term Pattern Recognition, Visual Probability Learning Psychomotor Performance Psychophysics Reaction Time Serial Learning Transfer, Psychology Journal Article

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Iring Koch. 2005. Sequential task predictability in task switching.. https://doi.org/10.3758/bf03196354

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