Response-repetition costs in task switching do not index a simple response-switch bias: Evidence from manipulating the number of response alternatives

Attention Perception & Psychophysics, vol. 85, pp. 2577–2587

Abstract

Response repetitions aid performance when a task repeats but impair performance when a task switches. Although this interaction is robust, theoretical accounts remain controversial. Here, we used an un-cued, predictable task-switching paradigm with univalent targets to explore whether a simple bias to switch the response when the task switches can explain the interaction. In Experiment 1A (n = 40), we replicated the basic interaction in a two-choice task. In Experiment 1B (n = 60), we observed the same interaction in a three-choice task, wherein a bias to switch the response when the task switches cannot prime a specific alternative response because both remaining response alternatives are equally likely. Exploratory comparisons revealed a larger interaction between task repetition and response repetition in the three-choice task than in the two-choice task for mean response time (RT) and the opposite pattern for mean error rate (ER). Critically, in the three-choice task, response-repetition costs in task switches were significant in both RT and ER. Since a bias to switch the response cannot prime a specific response alternative in a three-choice task, we conclude that such a bias cannot account for response-repetition costs in task-switch trials.

Authors 3

1. Iring Koch corresponding Aachen Institute of Psychology

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Psychology, RWTH Aachen University, Jägerstr. 17-19, D-52056, Aachen, Germany. koch@psych.rwth-aachen.de

   Institute of Psychology, RWTH Aachen University, Jägerstr. 17-19, D-52056, Aachen, Germany

2. Eliot Hazeltine

   University of Iowa

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA

3. Daniel H. Weissman

   University of Michigan

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA