Stimulus-Based Priming of Task Choice During Voluntary Task Switching

Two voluntary task-switching experiments probed the influence of previous exposures to stimuli and categorizations of these stimuli on task choice during subsequent exposures to the same stimuli. Subjects performed origin and size judgments under standard voluntary task-switching instructions to per...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition memory, and cognition, 2010-07, Vol.36 (4), p.1060-1067
Main Authors: Arrington, Catherine M, Weaver, Starla M, Pauker, Rachel L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis of Variance
Attention - physiology
Bias
Biological and medical sciences
Choice Behavior - physiology
Classification
Cognition. Intelligence
Cognitive ability
Cognitive Control
Experimental psychology
Experiments
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Human
Humans
Influences
Judgment
Memory
Miscellaneous
Neuropsychological Tests
Photic Stimulation - methods
Priming
Probability
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Reaction Time
Reaction Time - physiology
Selection
Semantics
Stimuli
Students
Task Complexity
Task Switching
Undergraduate Students
Universities
Volition
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Summary:Two voluntary task-switching experiments probed the influence of previous exposures to stimuli and categorizations of these stimuli on task choice during subsequent exposures to the same stimuli. Subjects performed origin and size judgments under standard voluntary task-switching instructions to perform the tasks equally often in a random order. Both when subjects voluntarily selected the task on the first exposure (Experiment 1) and when the experimenter manipulated the task on the first exposure (Experiment 2), subjects chose to perform the same task on subsequent exposures significantly more often than would be expected on the basis of the instructions to perform tasks in a random order. Presentation of a previously encountered stimulus may result in the retrieval of a stimulus-task binding or event file that biases task selection as well as task readiness. The pattern of data across the 2 experiments suggests that stimulus-based priming influences task choice through both retrieval of episodes within the context of the experiment and semantic memory mechanisms.
ISSN:0278-7393
1939-1285
DOI:10.1037/a0019646