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Contrasting instruction change with response change in task switching.

Ian G M Cameron1, Masayuki Watanabe, Douglas P Munoz

  • 1Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen's University, K7L 3N6 Kingston, ON, Canada.

Experimental Brain Research
|June 20, 2007
PubMed
Summary

Switching tasks incurs switch costs due to increased errors and slower responses. These costs arise when a changed instruction alters a pre-programmed motor response, not just the task rule itself.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Human Factors

Background:

  • Task switching incurs switch costs, characterized by higher error rates and response times.
  • Switch costs are linked to changes in task sets (internalized response rules).
  • The precise cause—instruction change versus programmed response alteration—remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To differentiate between instruction change and programmed response change as drivers of switch costs.
  • To investigate the role of instruction and stimulus predictability in switch costs.
  • To determine if switch costs are driven by the physical stimulus or abstract task rules.

Main Methods:

  • Manipulated instruction timing (before/after stimulus presentation) to alter specified saccade responses (pro- vs. antisaccade).

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  • Conducted three experiments varying instruction predictability, stimulus predictability, and response switching.
  • Measured error rates and response times to quantify switch costs.

    • Main Results:

    • Switch costs consistently occurred when the specified motor response changed, irrespective of instruction or stimulus predictability.
    • Changing the instruction after stimulus presentation, which altered the specified response, reliably produced switch costs.
    • Changing the instruction before stimulus presentation, without altering the specified response, did not consistently produce switch costs.

    Conclusions:

    • Switch costs are primarily driven by changes in the programmed motor response, not solely by abstract instruction shifts.
    • Motor programs for saccade responses are automatically initiated based on instruction and stimulus.
    • Task switching research should consider the automatic programming of motor responses to stimuli.