Task-set decay, response set, and action monitoring
Final Report Abstract
Our project on examining the hypothetical process of time-based decay of task-set activation during the response-cue interval (RCI) in cued task switching showed surprising and important new results. The data show that the notion of time-based short-term decay of task set activation can be refuted. The data led us to put forward a novel account for explaining RCI effects in task switching. The main focus of the project turned out to be a comparison between the task-set decay hypothesis and the hypothesis that temporal distinctiveness modulates automatic task retrieval to explain the dissipating task-repetition benefit in cued task switching. In the novel account for RCI effects, we propose that task retrieval is modulated by temporal distinctiveness, which is defined as the ratio between the current RCI and the preceding RCI. Taken together, the results obtained in this DFG-funded project have contributed substantially to our understanding of mechanisms in cognitive control investigated by using the task-switching paradigm. Specifically, the present research program has advanced episodic memory retrieval accounts of task switching.
Publications
- Control and interference in task switching—A review. Psychological Bulletin
Kiesel, A., Steinhauser, M., Wendt, M., Falkenstein, M., Jost, K., Philipp, A. M., & Koch, I.
- Dissociative patterns of foreperiod effects in temporal judgment and reaction time tasks
Los, S., & Horoufchin, H.
- Temporal distinctiveness and repetition benefits in task switching: Disentangling stimulus-related and response-related contributions. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology
Horoufchin, H., Philipp, A. M., & Koch, I.
- The dissipating task-repetition benefit in cued task switching: Task-set decay or temporal distinctiveness? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance
Horoufchin, H., Philipp, A. M., & Koch, I.
