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Related Experiment Video

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The Joint Effect of Social Comparison and Social Distance on Evaluation of Intertemporal Choice Outcomes in Event-related Potential Studies
08:24

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Published on: August 25, 2023

Covert judgements are sufficient to trigger subsequent task-switching costs.

Rachel Swainson1, Douglas Martin

  • 1School of Psychology, William Guild Building, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, AB24 2UB, UK. r.swainon@abdn.ac.uk

Psychological Research
|August 14, 2012
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

This study shows that mental task repetition occurs even without outward actions. These residual task-switching costs indicate that cognitive control mechanisms are engaged for mental decisions, not just physical responses.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Decision-Making Research

Background:

  • Understanding cognitive control mechanisms is crucial for explaining decision-making processes.
  • Research has primarily focused on overt behaviors, leaving the role of internal mental processes less explored.
  • Task-switching paradigms are valuable tools for investigating cognitive control and executive functions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the tendency to repeat mental processes in decision-making, even without overt behavioral responses.
  • To determine if task-switching costs persist when cognitive processing is terminated before response execution.
  • To explore the underlying control mechanisms involved in task selection during covert judgments.

Main Methods:

  • Adaptation of the standard task-switching paradigm to include trials with terminated task processing before response execution.
  • Measurement of switch costs following trials where task processing was halted at response selection or during covert judgment.
  • Analysis of residual costs to differentiate them from cue-switching or feature-repetition effects.

Main Results:

  • Significant switch costs were observed even when task processing was terminated before overt response execution.
  • These residual switch costs persisted despite extended preparation intervals.
  • The observed costs were not attributable to cue-switching or feature-repetition effects, isolating the impact of mental task repetition.

Conclusions:

  • The findings suggest that cognitive control mechanisms are engaged for task selection irrespective of whether an overt response is required.
  • Mental decisions or covert judgments, similar to overt responses, can lead to residual task-switching costs.
  • This implies a unified control mechanism for task-specific processing, encompassing both internal cognition and external action.