Switch hands! Mapping temporal dynamics of proactive manual control with anticues

Abstract

This study uses a novel behavioral paradigm—the anticue task—to investigate the temporal dynamics of proactive control aimed at the resolution of response conflict in the manual motor system. The anticue task is a 4-choice reaction time (RT) task, with left and right anticues indicating mirror-symmetrical response hands. In particular, anticues require participants to prepare fingers on the hand opposite to the side of the cue (counter-corresponding mapping), which contrasts with the more standard procues that prompt participants to prepare fingers on the hand spatially in line with the cue (corresponding mapping). In Experiment 1, we examined the effects of anticues and procues as a function of cue–target interval (range: 100–850ms). Results showed that procues produced RT benefits (relative to neutral cues), which increased with longer cue–target intervals. Anticues, however, produced RT costs with short cue–target intervals and RT benefits with longer cue–target intervals. These findings support the view that anticues are mediated by a time-consuming, proactive control process that, using inhibition and activation, redirects the initial but wrong activation of the ipsilateral hand to the correct contralateral hand. In Experiment 2, we used a simple detection response to test, and reject, an alternative (attentional) account of these findings. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed in the context of dual-route models of response selection, the activation-suppression model, and related experimental protocols such as antisaccade, Simon, Stroop, Eriksen flanker, and task switching paradigms.