09:00 - 10:30
Parallel sessions 4
09:00 - 10:30
Room: HSZ - N1
Chair/s:
Alexander Berger, Patricia Hirsch
Multitasking is a frequent part of everyday life, requiring us to switch between different tasks or engage in multiple tasks simultaneously. Such situations place high demands on cognitive control. A key aspect of this control is the regulation of task sets: internal representations that guide behavior in accordance with current task demands. Using task switching, probe task and dual-tasking methods, this symposium brings together different paradigms for investigating the flexible control of task sets, thereby integrating different perspectives on the preparation, inhibition, and adaptation of task sets. We present studies on how task sets are shaped by anticipatory processes, how they may be suppressed to reduce interference, and how control mechanisms flexibly adjust based on recent experience or contextual demands. The individual talks address a range of questions within this framework: one study investigates inhibitory processes triggered by mere task preparation; another explores how changes in cue-task mappings affect reconfiguration after practice. A third contribution examines the origins of asymmetries in task switching involving different perspectives. Extending the focus to situations involving overlapping task demands, further talks investigate the dissipation of dual-task representations and how sequential demands modulate control in dual-task settings. Together, the symposium provides an integrative perspective on the dynamic regulation of task sets and aims to advance our understanding of the cognitive mechanisms that support cognitive flexibility and efficient multitasking in complex environments.
Submission 503
Partial Reversal of Cue-Task Assignment After Task Switching Practice
SymposiumTalk-02
Presented by: Stefanie Kellner
Stefanie KellnerTilo StrobachMike Wendt
MSH Medical School Hamburg, Germany
Task switch costs are typically reduced following task switching practice, likely reflecting increased efficiency in task-set reconfiguration. In the task cueing procedure, assuming the formation of cue-task associations, the reduction in switch costs after practice can be attributed to cue-based automatization of task-set reconfiguration processes. We investigated the effects of practice for cue-based task-set reconfiguration by partially reassigning the cue-task assignments for a subset of cues after extensive task switching practice. Specifically, performance with reassigned cues in task repetition and task switch trials was compared to performance with cues that retained their original task assignment. In doing so, the use of a 4:2 cue-task mapping allowed us to disentangle task switch costs from cue switch costs. Cue reassignment lead to increased performance costs relative to both constant and novel cues introduced only after practice , indicating a relearning cost associated with previously established associations. Importantly, this relearning cost was not greater in task switch trials than in task repetition trials, suggesting that cue-based automatized task-set reconfiguration, if it occurs, disrupts ongoing performance in a broader way rather than specifically interfering with the additional reconfiguration demands of task switches.