Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 20, 2025
08:35
An Operant Intra-/Extra-dimensional Set-shift Task for Mice
Published on: January 22, 2016
12.3K
Investigating the shift between externally and internally oriented cognition: a novel task-switching paradigm
Sara Calzolari1,2, Svetla Boneva1,2, Davinia Fernández-Espejo1,2
1Centre for Human Brain Health, University of Birmingham, 05 CHBH Building, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK.
Neuroscience of Consciousness
|November 23, 2022
Summary
This study introduces a new task-switching paradigm to measure cognitive flexibility. It reveals that switching between internal and external tasks, especially self-referential ones, incurs significant switch costs.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Human Behavior
Background:
- Cognitive flexibility research has primarily focused on external task switching.
- Internal and self-referential cognitive flexibility remain under-explored.
- Understanding internal-external information balance is crucial for cognition.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a novel task-switching paradigm to assess cognitive flexibility involving internal and external domains.
- To investigate the behavioral signatures of switching between self-referential and external tasks.
- To explore switch costs in both within-domain and between-domain task transitions.
Main Methods:
- A new online task-switching paradigm was designed and administered to 200 healthy volunteers.
- Participants performed externally oriented (e.g., letter assessment) and internally oriented (e.g., self-referential, bodily sensation) tasks.
- Task switches were equally distributed across within-external, within-internal, internal-to-external, and external-to-internal conditions.
Main Results:
- Switch costs (increased response times) were observed for both external and internal task switches, demonstrating their presence in self-referential cognition.
- Between-domain switches (internal-to-external and external-to-internal) showed higher response times than within-domain switches.
- These findings highlight the cognitive load associated with shifting between different processing domains.
Conclusions:
- Cognitive flexibility extends to internally oriented and self-referential processes, with measurable switch costs.
- Shifting between internal and external cognitive domains requires greater control and incurs higher costs.
- These effects likely stem from the coordinated engagement of domain-specific cognitive systems and shared control mechanisms.
Related Concept Videos
01:19High-Level and Low-Level Awareness
352
Controlled processes in human consciousness represent high-alert mental states where individuals deliberately focus their attention on achieving specific goals. Controlled processes can be seen in situations like mastering new technology, where a person might become so absorbed that they ignore surrounding distractions. Such processes involve selective attention, requiring one to concentrate on particular elements of experience while disregarding others. These are governed by executive...
352
01:20Introduction to Cognitive Psychology
578
Cognitive psychology is the field of psychology dedicated to examining how people think. It attempts to explain how and why we think the way we do by studying the interactions among human thinking, emotion, creativity, language, and problem-solving, as well as other cognitive processes. Cognitive psychology studies how information is processed and manipulated in remembering, thinking, and knowing.
This field emerged in the mid-20th century, following a period dominated by behaviorism, which...
This field emerged in the mid-20th century, following a period dominated by behaviorism, which...
578
01:27Language and Cognition
411
Language serves as a bridge between ideas and communication, influencing how individuals perceive and interact with the world. Psychologists have long debated whether language shapes thought or vice versa. This discussion gained grip with Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf in the 1940s, who proposed that language determines thought, a concept known as linguistic determinism. They suggested that the vocabulary and structure of a language influence how its speakers think and perceive reality.
411
01:17Cognitivism
1.5K
Cognitive psychology emerged as a significant field in the mid-20th century. It focused on understanding humans' internal mental processes. This approach emphasizes how people perceive, remember, think, and solve problems—elements critical to human cognition.
Previously dominated by behaviorism, which prioritized observable behaviors and largely ignored mental processes, psychology transformed in the 1950s. Cognitive psychologists argue that understanding how we think and process...
Previously dominated by behaviorism, which prioritized observable behaviors and largely ignored mental processes, psychology transformed in the 1950s. Cognitive psychologists argue that understanding how we think and process...
1.5K