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Related Experiment Video

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Revised and Neuroimaging-Compatible Versions of the Dual Task Screen

Revised and Neuroimaging-Compatible Versions of the Dual Task Screen

Published on: October 5, 2020

Asymmetric switch costs as sequential difficulty effects.

Darryl W Schneider¹, John R Anderson

¹Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA. dws@cmu.edu

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology (2006)

|April 20, 2010

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Task switching costs are asymmetric, with easier tasks showing higher costs. This study suggests impaired performance after difficult trials, not just task switching, explains this asymmetry in cognitive control.

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Human Performance
Executive Functions

Background:

Task switching paradigms reveal asymmetric switch costs, where easy tasks incur greater costs than difficult ones.
Existing theories struggle to fully explain this observed asymmetry in cognitive control.

Purpose of the Study:

To propose and test a novel account of asymmetric switch costs based on sequential difficulty effects.
To investigate the role of post-difficult trial performance in task switching costs.

Main Methods:

Two experiments involving arithmetic task switching were conducted.
Secondary difficulty manipulations were employed to examine performance after trials of varying difficulty.

Main Results:

Asymmetric switch costs were observed, consistent with the proposed sequential difficulty effect.
Performance impairments were evident after difficult trials, irrespective of task repetition or switching.

Conclusions:

Sequential difficulty effects, rather than task switching alone, can explain asymmetric switch costs.
This account may also elucidate asymmetric restart costs and points to resource depletion in executive control or working memory.