Electrophysiological evidence for preparatory reconfiguration before voluntary task switches but not cued task switches

An unresolved issue in the task-switching literature is whether preparatory reconfiguration occurs before a change of task. In this study, we used event-related potentials (ERPs) to determine whether preparatory reconfiguration occurs during two different task-switching procedures: voluntary and cue...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychonomic bulletin & review 2014-04, Vol.21 (2), p.454-461
Main Authors: Kang, Min-Suk, DiRaddo, Adrienne, Logan, Gordon D., Woodman, Geoffrey F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Behavior
Behavioral psychophysiology
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Biological and medical sciences
Brief Report
Cognition. Intelligence
Cognitive Psychology
Contingent Negative Variation - physiology
Cues
Electroencephalography
Electrophysiology
Event-Related Potentials, P300 - physiology
Executive Function - physiology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Miscellaneous
Multitasking
Psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Psychomotor Performance - physiology
Task analysis
Visual task performance
Volition - physiology
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Summary:An unresolved issue in the task-switching literature is whether preparatory reconfiguration occurs before a change of task. In this study, we used event-related potentials (ERPs) to determine whether preparatory reconfiguration occurs during two different task-switching procedures: voluntary and cued task switching. We focused on two ERP components that index different cognitive operations. The contingent negative variation (CNV) is a sensitive measure of a participant’s preparedness to use a specific stimulus–response mapping. In contrast, the P3 indexes memory updating. We found a pronounced modulation of the CNV before voluntary task switches, but not before cued task switches. Instead, cued task switches were preceded by a larger P3, as compared with task repetitions. Our findings suggest that task set reconfiguration is carried out prior to voluntary task switches, whereas memory processes dominate cued task switches.
ISSN:1069-9384
1531-5320
DOI:10.3758/s13423-013-0499-8