The study of task switching abilities and limitations offers valuable insights into human flexibility to adjust individual behavior depending on internal goals, and/or changing external demands. Consequently, understanding individual differences in multitasking becomes increasingly important, prompting an exploration into whether switching costs —manifesting as slower and/or more erroneous responses when switching between tasks compared to task repetition—reliably measure cognitive multitasking abilities at the individual level. So far, research on switching costs as a psychometric construct has been limited. Hence, our investigation focused on assessing the interindividual variability and reliability (examining split-half and retest measures) of switching costs, encompassing both forced choice and self-organized task switching scenarios. Preliminary findings indicate moderate to strong correlations in individual switch costs across various conditions, suggesting robust retest reliability. These results align with Schuch et al.'s (2022) study, which also reported sustainable split-half and retest reliabilities for switch-related response times.

Schuch, S., Philipp, A., Maulitz, L., & Koch, I. (2021). On the reliability of behavioral measures of cognitive control: Retest reliability of task-inhibition effect, task-preparation effect, Stroop-like interference, and conflict adaptation effect. Psychological Research. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-021-01627-x https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00426-021-01627-x.pdf