Task switching, modality compatibility, and the supra-modal function of eye movements

Previous research suggested that specific pairings of stimulus and response modalities (visual-manual and auditory-vocal tasks) lead to better dual-task performance than other pairings (visual-vocal and auditory-manual tasks). In the present task-switching study, we further examined this modality compatibility effect and investigated the role of response modality by additionally studying oculomotor responses as an alternative to manual responses. Interestingly, the switch cost pattern revealed a much stronger modality compatibility effect for groups in which vocal and manual responses were combined as compared to a group involving vocal and oculomotor responses, where the modality compatibility effect was largely abolished. We suggest that in the vocal-manual response groups the modality compatibility effect is based on cross-talk of central processing codes due to preferred stimulus-response modality processing pathways, whereas the oculomotor response modality may be shielded against cross-talk due to the supra-modal functional importance of visual orientation.