Switching between cognitive control states? No, thank you

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Human Behavior

Background:

• Cognitive control is crucial for adapting behavior to environmental changes.
• Task switching costs are well-documented, but costs of switching control states within a single task are less understood.
• Existing research has not clarified if internal control state adjustments (e.g., relaxed vs. focused) incur effort.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the intrinsic costs associated with internally switching between cognitive control states within a single task.
• To examine the potential trade-off between the effort cost of control-state switching and interference demands.
• To refine models of cognitive control regulation by assessing the costs of both exerting and adjusting control.

Main Methods:

• A series of experiments using the Demand Selection Task.
• Participants chose between options involving Stroop trials to assess avoidance of control-state switching and interference demands.
• A novel parametric flanker task was developed to strongly manipulate both control-state switching and interference demands simultaneously.

Main Results:

• Participants consistently avoided options with high demands for internal control-state switching or high interference.
• Initial experiments showed no modulation of interference costs by control-state switching demands, possibly due to weak manipulations.
• Stronger manipulations using the novel flanker task revealed that both control-state switching and interference costs influenced choices, indicating trade-offs.

Conclusions:

• Switching between cognitive control states within a task incurs subjective effort costs.
• Individuals actively avoid tasks that require frequent internal control-state adjustments.
• The findings highlight that adjusting cognitive control, not just exerting it, has intrinsic costs, contributing to control regulation models.