An information theoretical approach to task-switching:Evidence from cognitive brain potentials in humans

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event An information theoretical approach to task-switching:Evidence from cognitive brain potentials in humans Francisco Barceló1, 2*, Erika Nyhus1, 2 and J. A. Periáñez3 1 University of Illes Balears, Spain 2 Institut Universitari d’Investigació en Ciències de la Salut, Spain 3 University of Colorado, United States Humans schedule many daily activities in synchrony with environmental cues. Scientists have recently adopted task-switching paradigms for exploring the neural dynamics subserving the goal-directed and stimulus-driven control of human cognition. Here we aimed to clarify the neural substrates of behavioral switch and restart costs in intermittently instructed task-cueing paradigms. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while participants were intermittently cued to switch or repeat their categorization rule (Switch task), or they performed two perceptually identical control conditions (NoGo and Oddball). The three tasks involved subtly different task-sets with distinct stimulus-response associations in each, but with identical visual stimulation, consisting of frequent colored shapes (P= 0.9) and randomly interspersed infrequent black shapes (P= 0.1; ‘+’ and ‘x’ symbols). Behavioral restart costs were observed in the first target responses following all black shapes in the Switch and NoGo tasks –but not in the Oddball task–, together with enhanced fronto-centrally distributed early cue-locked P3 activity (peak latency 325-375 ms post-cue onset at the vertex). In turn, behavioral switch costs were associated with larger late cue-locked P3 amplitudes in the Switch task only (peak latency 400-450 ms post-cue onset at mid-parietal sites). Together with our information theoretical estimates, ERP results suggest that restart and switch costs index two distinct neural mechanisms related to the preparatory resolution of uncertainty: (1) the intermittent re-activation of task-set information, and (2) the updating of stimulus-response mappings in active memory, as indexed by early and late cue-locked P3 activations, respectively. In contrast, target-locked P3 activations reflected a functionally distinct mechanism related to the implementation of task-set information. We conclude that task-switching costs reflect several switch-specific and switch-unspecific processes during the preparation and execution of motor actions. Funded by grant MEC SEJ2007-61728. Conference: 10th International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience, Bodrum, Turkey, 1 Sep - 5 Sep, 2008. Presentation Type: Oral Presentation Topic: Symposium 2: Cognitive control processes Citation: Barceló F, Nyhus E and Periáñez JA (2008). An information theoretical approach to task-switching:Evidence from cognitive brain potentials in humans. Conference Abstract: 10th International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.09.2009.01.012 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 26 Nov 2008; Published Online: 26 Nov 2008. * Correspondence: Francisco Barceló, University of Illes Balears, Palma de Mallorca, Spain, barcelo.paco@gmail.com Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Francisco Barceló Erika Nyhus J. A Periáñez Google Francisco Barceló Erika Nyhus J. A Periáñez Google Scholar Francisco Barceló Erika Nyhus J. A Periáñez PubMed Francisco Barceló Erika Nyhus J. A Periáñez Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.