Abstract
Task switching is often considered for evaluating limitations of cognitive flexibility. Switch costs are behavioural indices of limited cognitive flexibility, and switch costs may be decomposable into stimulus- and response-related fractions, as conjectured by the domain hypothesis of cognitive flexibility. According to the domain hypothesis, there exist separable stimulus- and response-related neural networks for cognitive flexibility, which should be discernible as distinct event-related potentials (ERPs). The present card-matching study allowed isolating stimulus- and response-related switch costs, while measuring ERPs evoked by task cues and target stimuli with a focus on the target-locked N2/P3 complex. Behavioural data revealed that both stimulus-task and response-task bindings contribute to switch costs. Cue-locked ERPs yielded larger anterior negativity/posterior positivity in response to switch cues compared to repeat cues. Target-locked ERPs revealed separable ERP correlates of stimulus- and response-related switch costs. P3 waveforms with fronto-central scalp distributions emerged as a corollary of stimulus-related switch costs. Fronto-centrally distributed N2 waveforms occurred when stimulus-task and response-task bindings contributed jointly to switch costs. The reported N2/P3 ERP data are commensurate with the domain hypothesis according to which there exist separable stimulus- and response-related neural networks for cognitive flexibility.
Highlights
Task switching is often considered for evaluating limitations of cognitive flexibility
The switch-related P3 enhancement seemed to be present when previous responses remained ineligible and when responses had to be repeated, while no signs of switch-related P3 enhancement appeared on previous response eligible (PRe) | response alternation trials
The present data are congruent with the domain hypothesis (DH), which traces behavioural switch costs back to stimulus-related and response-related cognitive interference[11]
Summary
Task switching is often considered for evaluating limitations of cognitive flexibility. The present card-matching study allowed isolating stimulus- and response-related switch costs, while measuring ERPs evoked by task cues and target stimuli with a focus on the target-locked N2/P3 complex. In its simplest form, carry-over interference may emerge from residual activation of previously executed task sets Their persistence may improve performance on repeat trials, but impair performance on switch trials[3]. Stimulus-related sources of cognitive interference were studied in a simple card-matching paradigm that requested switching back and forth between stimulus features (i.e., colour and shape of simple geometric figures). In a subsequent behavioural study, we employed a more sophisticated card-matching paradigm for examining stimulus- and response-related switch costs, in which we ensured that the experimental conditions were comparably complex[14]. Behavioural switch costs arise from the presence of short-lived associations between mental representations of stimulus features, response properties, and task sets, as detailed below
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