Project Details
Projekt
Factors influencing switching disutility - an experimental test and cognitive modelling of two-staged decision making in task switching
Subject Area
General, Cognitive and Mathematical Psychology
Term
since 2026
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 564829065
This project integrates empirical findings and theories of task switching as well as judgment and decision making (JDM), which have previously developed independently, to explain task-switching choices. One potentially important factor influencing task choices is the estimation of subjective costs, which have also been identified as a key determinant of decision making. It remains unclear whether these costs are sufficiently large in the context of task switching to drive task choice decisions, and whether general models of decision making can account for potential task-switching effects. In this project, we integrate approaches from task switching and decision-making research by (a) developing a decision-making paradigm that captures the core aspects of a validated task-switching framework, (b) enabling the estimation of task switching disutility using a standard expected utility approach, and (c) investigating underlying cognitive processes by adapting and fitting prominent cognitive models from JDM to individual behavior. Our objectives are to estimate the disutility associated with task switching, to identify factors that increase or decrease this disutility, and to apply cognitive process models to obtain a mechanistic understanding of task switching choices. We will implement this through the following four steps: (1) We match the original free concurrent dual-tasking (FCDT) task switching paradigm with a - from a utilitarian perspective equivalent - paradigm from decision making: the two-stage decision making paradigm (2S). (2) The two-stage decision-making paradigm is implemented as decisions from descriptions vs. decisions from experience (2S-DBD vs. EBD) to capture various aspects of FCDT and to investigate the effect of factors such as learning. (3) We use an expected utility approach to estimate (a) the disutility of task switching per se, (b) the effect of various influencing factors commonly used in voluntary task switching on this disutility, and (c) interindividual differences in task-switching disutility as well as its reliability. (4) In line with standard approaches in decision making research, we apply validated cognitive process models to capture the underlying mechanisms of expectation formation (i.e., learning models) and information integration (i.e., decision making models). These models include simple heuristics (e.g., win-stay, lose-shift) as well as more complex cognitive models (e.g., parallel constraint satisfaction models). We employ Bayesian model comparison to determine which model best accounts for behavior at both the individual and aggregate level. Our efforts in (1) and (2) to develop a new task aim to provide an enhanced understanding of multi-stage decision making and to yield a validated benchmark list of task choice factors.
DFG Programme
Research Units
