The influence of affective task content on task switching remains an unresolved issue. According to the affect dominance hypothesis, the enhanced processing of affective task content leads to stronger activation of the affective task set, resulting in increased switch costs for affective tasks compared to neutral tasks. Such asymmetric switch costs suggest that the affective task is processed as a more dominant task, requiring inhibition to enable switching to the less dominant neutral task.
In this study, we applied a drift-diffusion model (DDM) to examine asymmetrical switch costs during affective task switching. Participants performed a cued task-switching paradigm, categorizing either gender (neutral) or facial emotions (affective) while alternating between task repetition and switching. Consistent with the affect dominance hypothesis, our empirical findings revealed greater switch costs for affective tasks than for neutral tasks.
Using hierarchical drift diffusion modeling (HDDM), we identified distinct cognitive mechanisms underlying this effect. Affective tasks were associated with slower evidence accumulation (lower drift rates) and increased response caution (higher decision boundaries), reflecting the combined demands of cognitive control and emotional processing. These findings highlight the significant influence of affective content on task strength and cognitive load, offering new insights into the interplay between emotion and attention. This work provides a computational perspective on how emotional salience disrupts cognitive control and establishes a foundation for refining task-switching theories in emotionally charged contexts.