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Steering through task uncertainty: Evidence for activation modulation over dynamic binding.

Mengqiao Chai1, Senne Braem2

  • 1Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Henri Dunantlaan 2, 9000, Ghent, Belgium. chaimengqiao@gmail.com.

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review
|April 14, 2026
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Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

People flexibly update task representations by downregulating current tasks, not by unbinding components, when anticipating task switches. This supports the activation modulation account for cognitive control.

Keywords:
CompositionalityTask preparationTask representationUncertainty

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Human Behavior

Background:

  • Adapting to dynamic environments necessitates flexible updating of task representations.
  • Previous studies show adaptive preparation and unpreparation for tasks based on switch likelihood.
  • The precise neural mechanisms underlying this flexible task control remain incompletely understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the mechanisms enabling flexible task control during preparation for potential task switches.
  • To differentiate between the activation modulation account and the dynamic (un)binding hypothesis.
  • To determine if task representation downregulation or component unbinding is prioritized during switch anticipation.

Main Methods:

  • Developed a novel experimental paradigm involving preparation for tasks with potential partial or complete switches.
  • Manipulated the probability of complete versus partial task switches during the preparation phase.
  • Measured behavioral responses to assess task representation inhibition and component unbinding.

Main Results:

  • Participants demonstrated increased inhibition of task representations when anticipating a complete switch compared to a partial switch.
  • The degree of inhibition correlated positively with the probability of a complete task switch.
  • No significant evidence supported reliance on dynamic (un)binding for partial switches.

Conclusions:

  • Findings support the activation modulation account, indicating that cognitive control primarily involves regulating the activation strength of task representations.
  • The results suggest that downregulation of task representations is the dominant mechanism for preparing for task switches.
  • Dynamic unbinding of task components appears less critical for flexible task control in this context.