We do as we construe: extended behavior construed as one task is executed as one cognitive entity

Ausaf A Farooqui,Tom Manly

doi:10.1007/s00426-018-1051-2

Abstract

We select and execute extended task episodes (‘make tea’) as one entity and not individually execute their very many components (find kettle, boil water, etc.). Such hierarchical execution is thought to occur in familiar task situations with pre-existing task episode-related scripts that once selected, control the identity and sequence of component steps. Here, in contrast, we show hierarchical execution of extended behavior in situations, where the identity and sequence of component steps were unknown and a predetermined script could not have existed. Participants performed a rule-switching task in which the rule to be applied on each trial could not be predicted. Crucially, they were biased into construing a recurring instance of three or five trials as a single task episode. Behavioral signs of hierarchical execution, identical to those seen during memorized task-sequence executions, were present. These included longer reaction time on the first trial of each episode that was proportionate to the length of that episode, and absence of rule switch costs only between those consecutive trials that crossed episode boundaries. Hierarchical execution thus occurs every time the to-be-executed behavior is construed as one task episode, and is not limited to predictable sequences. We suggest that hierarchical execution occurs because task episodes are controlled and executed through goal-related entities assembled at the beginning of execution that subsume the execution and instantiate purposive control across time until the goal is complete.

Highlights

Goal-directed behavior frequently consists of temporally extended actions and task entities that consist of a sequence of steps, but are executed as one entity
While participants executed continuous trials of an experimental session, taskirrelevant cues were used to bias them towards viewing each recurring period of three or five trials as one task episode. This method allowed us to study factors related to task episodes without confounding them with factors pertaining to task rules, long-term memory recall, working memory, attention, action selection etc
We showed that every time a series of otherwise independent and unpredictable trials was construed as a task episode (1) trial 1 had the longest reaction time (RT), (2) which was longer before longer episodes, and (3) trial item-related switch cost was insignificant when the switch crossed construed episode boundaries

Summary

Introduction

Goal-directed behavior frequently consists of temporally extended actions and task entities (task episodes, sub-episodes) that consist of a sequence of steps (e.g., sub-tasks, smaller acts and events etc.), but are executed as one entity. We use the term task episodes, because these typically are temporally extended periods of focused purposive behavior during which a sequence of constituent steps is executed. While participants executed continuous trials of an experimental session, taskirrelevant cues were used to bias them towards viewing each recurring period of three or five trials as one task episode. This method allowed us to study factors related to task episodes without confounding them with factors pertaining to task rules, long-term memory recall, working memory, attention, action selection etc. Our concern is that irrespective of the hierarchical level, the sequence of trials be construed and executed as one entity

Methods

Results

Conclusion