Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

A multilab investigation into the N2pc as an indicator of attentional selectivity: Direct replication of Eimer (1996).

Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior·2025

Same author

Does preparation generate the cost of task switching? A recipe for a switch cost after cue-only trials.

Psychological research·2025

Same author

Transfer asymmetry: Tversky's contrast model of similarity for human perceptual-motor learning.

Quarterly journal of experimental psychology (2006)·2025

Same author

Exploring an emotional basis of cognitive control in the flanker task.

Cognition & emotion·2025

Same author

The task-switch cost is still absent after selectively stopping a response in cued task switching.

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition·2024

Same author

Differences in Approach and Avoidance Motivation Sensitivities Predicting Participation and Performance in Strength Sport.

Journal of strength and conditioning research·2023

Same journal

Testing the predictions of a distinctiveness model of memory: The production effect in backward recall.

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition·2026

Same journal

On the impact of adjacency on transposed-word effects under serial presentation.

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition·2026

Same journal

It's time to opt out: Metacognitive analysis of time regulation under uncertainty.

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition·2026

Same journal

The role of statistical learning in attentional guidance during search through naturalistic scenes.

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition·2026

Same journal

Representing objects and features in long-term memory: A case for direct feature-feature binding.

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition·2026

Same journal

Crossmodal correspondences influence adaptation during rule-based category learning of objects.

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition·2026

See all related articles

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 21, 2025

Measuring the Switch Cost of Smartphone Use While Walking

Measuring the Switch Cost of Smartphone Use While Walking

Published on: April 30, 2020

Preparing a task is sufficient to generate a subsequent task-switch cost affecting task performance.

Rachel Swainson¹, Laura Joy Prosser¹, Motonori Yamaguchi²

¹School of Psychology, University of Aberdeen.

Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition

|July 27, 2023

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Task preparation and performance both impact cognitive task-switching costs. Preparing a task without performing it incurs switch costs, with actual performance further increasing these costs in subsequent tasks.

More Related Videos

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

The 5-Choice Serial Reaction Time Task: A Task of Attention and Impulse Control for Rodents

The 5-Choice Serial Reaction Time Task: A Task of Attention and Impulse Control for Rodents

Published on: August 10, 2014

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jul 21, 2025

Measuring the Switch Cost of Smartphone Use While Walking

Measuring the Switch Cost of Smartphone Use While Walking

Published on: April 30, 2020

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

The 5-Choice Serial Reaction Time Task: A Task of Attention and Impulse Control for Rodents

The 5-Choice Serial Reaction Time Task: A Task of Attention and Impulse Control for Rodents

Published on: August 10, 2014

Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Neuroscience

Background:

Task-switch costs are observed even after preparing a task without performing it.
The precise contribution of task preparation versus performance to switch costs remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

To differentiate the effects of task preparation and task performance on subsequent switch costs.
To investigate whether switch costs reflect impacts on preparation or performance.

Main Methods:

Employed a double-registration procedure involving cue-only and completed trials.
Participants responded to both task-cue and target stimuli.

Main Results:

Cue-switch costs appeared after both trial types for cue responses.
Task-switch costs appeared for target responses after both trial types.
Task-switch costs were larger following completed trials than cue-only trials.

Conclusions:

Task preparation alone influences subsequent task performance.
Task performance adds to the switch cost beyond preparation.
Both preparation and performance contribute to observed task-switch costs.