Switching Costs Research Articles

Modelling client adoption of robo-advisors in Thailand: the impact of trust and situational factors

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated clients’ robo-advisors adoption as a digital financial advisory platform in Thailand. Drawing upon relationship marketing theory, this study examines the influence of trust, technology anxiety, and satisfaction with current financial advisory services on intention to use. It also explores the moderating effects of switching costs and the attractiveness of alternatives. Utilizing data from 401 Thai investors, structural equation modelling (SEM) is employed for data analysis. Results indicate that trust not only directly influences the intention to use robo-advisors but also mediates the influence of technology anxiety and current service satisfaction on usage intention. Attractiveness of alternatives strengthens the effect of trust while switching costs do not show a significant impact. This study broadens the services marketing and relationship marketing literature, highlighting a key mediating role of trust in navigating robo-advisors usage during and post the pandemic.

Simple fixes that accommodate switching costs in multi-armed bandits

When switching costs are added to the multi-armed bandit (MAB) problem where the arms’ random reward distributions are previously unknown, usually quite different techniques than those for pure MAB are required. We find that two simple fixes on the existing upper-confidence-bound (UCB) policy can work well for MAB with switching costs (MAB-SC). Two cases should be distinguished. One is with positive-gap ambiguity where the performance gap between the leading and lagging arms is known to be at least some δ>0. For this, our fix is to erect barriers that discourage frivolous arm switchings. The other is with zero-gap ambiguity where absolutely nothing is known. We remedy this by forcing the same arms to be pulled in increasingly prolonged intervals. As usual, the effectivenesses of our fixes are measured by the worst average regrets over long time horizons T. When the barriers are fixed at δ/2, we can accomplish a ln(T)-sized regret bound for the positive-gap case. When intervals are such that n of them occupy n2 periods, we can achieve the best possible T1/2-sized regret bound for the zero-gap case. Other than UCB, these fixes can be applied to a learning while doing (LWD) heuristic to reach satisfactory results as well. While not yet with the best theoretical guarantees, the LWD-based policies have empirically outperformed those based on UCB and other known alternatives. Numerically competitive policies still include ones resulting from interval-based fixes on Thompson sampling (TS).

REVIEW: THE RELATIONSHIP OF DRUGS INFORMATION SERVICES TO CHRONIC PATIENT LOYALTY

Patient loyalty is one of the most important factors in drug therapy to achieve successful disease treatment. We conducted a literature review to examine the relationship between drug information services and chronic patient loyalty in pharmacies. The method used was a systematic examination of related studies and articles, using a qualitative approach. The first screening included 50 articles and excluded 9 articles, the second screening excluded 30 articles, and the final articles used in this review were 11 articles. The results showed that drug information services had a positive effect on patient loyalty through the mediation of patient satisfaction. The factors that influence drug information services include the type of drug information, competence of the pharmacist, interpersonal communication, and service time. The factors that influence patient loyalty include trust, commitment, customer value, and switching costs. Keywords: Drug information service, patient loyalty, patient satisfaction, service quality, pharmaceutical service quality, customer satisfaction.

High autistic traits linked with reduced performance on affective task switching: An ERP study

Few studies have investigated affective flexibility in individuals with high autistic traits. In the present study, we employed affective task-switching paradigm combined with event related potential (ERP) technology to explore affective flexibility in individuals with high autistic traits. Participants were instructed to switch between identifying the gender (gender task) and emotion (emotion task) of presented faces. Two groups of participants were recruited based on the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) scores: a High Autistic Group (HAG) and a Low Autistic Group (LAG). The results confirmed that the HAG exhibited greater behavioral emotion switch costs and increased N2 and decreased P3 components when switching to the emotion task. Additionally, we identified an affective asymmetric switch cost in the HAG, where the switch cost for the emotion task was larger than for the gender task at both behavioral and electrophysiological levels. In contrast, a symmetrical switch cost was observed in the LAG. These findings indicate that the HAG experiences difficulties with affective flexibility, particularly in tasks involving emotional processing. The patterns of affective asymmetric switch costs observed in both groups differed from previous results in autistic children and the general population, suggesting that the relative dominance of gender and emotion tasks may vary between the two groups. We propose that the dominance of emotion tasks declines as autistic traits increase.

Attentional template activation and switch costs during preparation for predictable multiple-colour search

Attentional template activation and switch costs during preparation for predictable multiple-colour search

Practice Reshapes the Geometry and Dynamics of Task-tailored Representations.

Extensive practice makes task performance more efficient and precise, leading to automaticity. However, theories of automaticity differ on which levels of task representations (e.g., low-level features, stimulus-response mappings, or high-level conjunctive memories of individual events) change with practice, despite predicting the same pattern of improvement (e.g., power law of practice). To resolve this controversy, we built on recent theoretical advances in understanding computations through neural population dynamics. Specifically, we hypothesized that practice optimizes the neural representational geometry of task representations to minimally separate the highest-level task contingencies needed for successful performance. This involves efficiently reaching conjunctive neural states that integrate task-critical features nonlinearly while abstracting over non-critical dimensions. To test this hypothesis, human participants (n = 40) engaged in extensive practice of a simple, context-dependent action selection task over 3 days while recording EEG. During initial rapid improvement in task performance, representations of the highest-level, context-specific conjunctions of task-features were enhanced as a function of the number of successful episodes. Crucially, only enhancement of these conjunctive representations, and not lower-order representations, predicted the power-law improvement in performance. Simultaneously, over sessions, these conjunctive neural states became more stable earlier in time and more aligned, abstracting over redundant task features, which correlated with offline performance gain in reducing switch costs. Thus, practice optimizes the dynamic representational geometry as task-tailored neural states that minimally tesselate the task space, taming their high-dimensionality.

Age-related Electrophysical Correlates of Cross-modal Attention Switching.

The human experience demands seamless attentional switches between sensory modalities. Aging raises questions about how declines in auditory and visual processing affect cross-modal attention switching. This study used a cued cross-modal attention-switching paradigm where visual and auditory stimuli were simultaneously presented on either spatially congruent or incongruent sides. A modality cue indicated the target modality, requiring a spatially left versus right key-press response. EEG recordings were collected during task performance. We investigated whether the mixing costs (decreased performance for repetition trials in a mixed task compared with a single task) and switch costs (decreased performance for a switch of target modality compared with a repetition) in cross-modal attention-switching paradigms would exhibit similarities in terms of behavioral performance and the ERP components to those observed in the traditional unimodal attention-switching paradigms. Specifically, we focused on the ERP components: cue-locked P3 (mixing/switch-related increased positivity), target-locked P3 (mixing/switch-related decreased positivity), and target-locked lateralized readiness potential (mixing/switch-related longer latency). In addition, we assessed how aging impacts cross-modal attention-switching performance. Results revealed that older adults exhibited more pronounced mixing and switch costs than younger adults, especially when visual and auditory stimuli were presented on incongruent sides. ERP findings showed increased cue-locked P3 amplitude, prolonged cue-locked P3 latency, decreased target-locked P3 amplitude, prolonged target-locked P3 latency in association with switch costs, and prolonged onset latency of the target-locked lateralized readiness potential in association with the mixing costs. Age-related effects were significant only for cue-locked P3 amplitude, cue-locked P3 latency (switch-related), and target-locked P3 latency (switch-related). These findings suggest that the larger mixing costs and switch costs in older adults were because of the inefficient use of modality cues to update a representation of the relevant task sets and required more processing time for evaluating and categorizing the target.

Optimizing sequential decision-making under risk: Strategic allocation with switching penalties

This paper considers the multiarmed bandit (MAB) problem augmented with a critical real-world consideration: the cost implications of switching decisions. Our work distinguishes itself by addressing the largely unexplored domain of risk-averse MAB problems compounded by switching penalties. Such scenarios are not just theoretical constructs but are reflective of numerous practical applications. Our contribution is threefold: firstly, we explore how switching costs and risk aversion influence decision-making in MAB problems. Secondly, we present novel theoretical results, including the development of the Risk-Averse Switching Index (RASI), which addresses the dual challenges of risk aversion and switching costs, demonstrating its near-optimal efficacy. This heuristic solution method is grounded in dynamic coherent risk measures, enabling a time-consistent evaluation of risk and reward. Lastly, through rigorous numerical experiments, we validate our algorithm’s effectiveness and practical applicability, providing decision-makers with valuable insights and tools for navigating the multifaceted landscape of risk-averse environments with inherent switching costs.

US cost-utility model of lenacapavir plus optimized background regimen (OBR) vs fostemsavir plus OBR and ibalizumab plus OBR for people with HIV with multidrug resistance.

Heavily treatment-experienced (HTE) people with HIV (PWH) have limited treatment options owing to multidrug resistance (MDR). Lenacapavir (LEN) is indicated, in combination with other antiretrovirals, for the treatment of adults with MDR HIV-1 experiencing failure of their current antiretroviral regimen because of resistance, intolerance, or safety considerations. To evaluate the cost-utility of LEN in combination with an optimized background regimen (OBR) vs alternative recently approved treatments for HTE PWH, fostemsavir (FTR)+OBR and ibalizumab (IBA)+OBR, for the treatment of PWH with MDR, from a mixed US health care payer perspective. A Markov state-transition model with a lifetime time horizon was developed. Transition probabilities between viral load categories were based on individual participant data from the CAPELLA trial for LEN+OBR and on relative efficacy parameters obtained from indirect treatment comparisons for comparators. Health state utilities were sourced from the literature. Costs included drug acquisition costs, drug administration costs, disease management costs, adverse event costs, AIDS-related event costs, and treatment switching costs and were sourced from red book costs, Medicare and Medicaid fees, and the literature. Costs and outcomes were discounted at 3% annually. The model was used to estimate total and incremental costs, life-years (LYs), quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs), and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios. A deterministic and a probabilistic sensitivity analysis, as well as scenario analyses, were performed to address elements of uncertainty in the model and to explore the robustness of the results. Over a lifetime time horizon, LEN+OBR was associated with the highest absolute QALYs (9.41) and the greatest number of LYs (12.09) compared with FTR+OBR (QALYs: 8.75; LYs: 11.26) and IBA+OBR (QALYs: 8.36; LYs: 10.78). LEN+OBR was also associated with the lowest total lifetime costs of the 3 interventions (LEN+OBR: $1,441,122 [US dollars]; FTR+OBR: $1,504,986; IBA+OBR: $1,524,396) and therefore was dominant over both comparators in the base case. LEN+OBR remained dominant vs FTR+OBR and IBA+OBR across the range of scenarios tested and LEN+OBR had a 99% probability of being cost-effective compared with FTR+OBR and IBA+OBR in the probabilistic sensitivity analysis at a willingness-to-pay threshold of $50,000/QALY. This economic evaluation demonstrated that LEN+OBR provides meaningful increases in QALYs and LYs, and is dominant over a lifetime time horizon, compared with FTR+OBR and IBA+OBR for the treatment of PWH with MDR in the United States.

The electrophysiology of sequential adjustments of dual-task order coordination.

Performing two tasks simultaneously involves the coordination of their processing. This task coordination is particularly required in dual-task situations with varying task orders. When task order switches between subsequent trials, task order coordination leads to task order switch costs in comparison with order repetitions. However, it is open, whether task order coordination is exclusively controlled by the relation of the task orders of the current and the previous trials, or whether additional conditions such as task order before the previous trial leads to a behavioral and neural adjustment of task order coordination. To answer this question, we reanalyzed the data of two previously published experiments with order-cued dual-task paradigms. We did so with regard to whether task order switch costs and the EEG component order-switch positivity in the current dual-task trial would be modulated by order switches vs. repetitions in the previous trial (Trial N-1). In Experiment 1, we found a modulation of the task order switch costs in RTs and response reversals; these costs were reduced after an order switch compared with order repetitions in Trial N-1. In Experiment 2, there were no effects on the task order switch costs in the behavioral data. Nonetheless, we found the order-switch positivity to be strongly modulated by the order transition of the previous trial in both experiments. The order-switch positivity was substantially reduced if the previous trial was an order switch (compared to an order repetition) by itself. This implies that order coordination of dual tasks is adjusted in a gradual way depending on trial's history.

Actions are oriented to delight travelers: A sequential mediation model to explore the relationship between travel quality and re-travel intentions

The actions are oriented to delight travelers where existing protocols fall short of solving problems in the travel and tourism industry, seeking the retention of commuters by offering travel quality. The present study investigates the travel decision-making process by exploring the nexus between travel quality and re-travel intentions (RTI). The study also analyzes the relational switching cost's (RSC) unique role as a sequential mediator in driving travel quality through the theoretical lens of expectancy disconfirmation theory. Furthermore, the study also explores the role of gender in explaining RTI. 434 real-time responses were collected following the lifetime value (LTV) approach. The structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the hypotheses. The study reveals that travel quality significantly influences commuter satisfaction. The results also suggest the indirect effect of RSC on commuter satisfaction (CS) and (RTI). Finally, it is suggested that RTI is higher among female commuters than male commuters. The fundamental contribution of this study is developing and testing the travel decision-making process by extending the EDT model. Additionally, the TRAVQUAL scale contributes to measuring perceived and expected travel quality. Commuter satisfaction and relational switching costs act as sequential mediators, while gender emerges as a moderator, emphasizing the greater significance of re-travel intentions among female commuters post-RSC. These insights contribute valuable perspectives for enhancing travel experiences and decision-making processes in the travel and tourism industry.

Treatment switching and associated economic outcomes in patients with plaque psoriasis treated with biologics: A retrospective analysis of German claims data 2016−2021

AbstractBackgroundBiologics are therapeutic options for the management of moderate−severe plaque psoriasis. Some patients need to switch biologic treatment to achieve satisfactory outcomes, which might have a considerable economic impact.ObjectivesWe assessed the characteristics and switch rates of patients with plaque psoriasis initiating biologic treatment and compared healthcare resource utilization (HCRU) and associated costs for switching and non‐switching.MethodsThis study was a retrospective claims‐based analysis comprising a 182‐day baseline period to identify patient characteristics and a 365‐day follow‐up to assess switch rates, HCRU and associated costs. Data covering claims activity from 2016 to 2021 in a representative sample of four million individuals with statutory insurance in Germany was used.ResultsWe identified 2565 patients with psoriasis initiating biologic treatment with anti‐IL‐17 (n = 1037), anti‐IL‐23 (n = 704), anti‐TNF‐α (n = 583) and anti‐IL‐12/23 (n = 241) agents. A total of 9.2% of patients switched therapy to another biologic during follow‐up, ranging from 4.9% (secukinumab) to 16.5% (etanercept). The probability of treatment switching was significantly lower in patients treated with risankizumab (p < 0.05) than in patients treated with other biologics except guselkumab (p = 0.14). HCRU and associated costs during the follow‐up were generally higher with a therapy switch (all‐cause: 32,263 ± 15,381€) than without (25,041 ± 12,090€). This applied to direct costs (outpatient services, hospitalization, drug treatment) and indirect costs (sickness benefits). Drug treatment accounted for the largest share of costs.ConclusionsTreatment switching is frequent in patients with moderate−severe plaque psoriasis initiating biologic therapy and is associated with increased HCRU and associated costs. As the probability that a switch occurs within 365 days after treatment initiation widely differs between biologic agents, further research is warranted to determine the underlying reasons for switching to help establish clinically and economically sound therapy sequences.

Exploring determinants of travelers’ discontinuance behavioral intention on integrated ride-hailing services: A perspective on perceived risk

The emergence of integrated ride-hailing services offers significant conveniences. However, the involvement of multiple providers and the lack of regulation within integrated ride-hailing platforms yield potential adverse impacts. Considering the perceptive of risk perception, this study aims to examine the factors influencing travelers' discontinuance behavioral intention on integrated ride-hailing services. By employing a reflective-formative second-order structure, perceived risk is classified into perceived driver-related risk and perceived platform-related risk. Additionally, the influence of satisfaction and switching cost is included. To validate the theoretical framework, an empirical study was conducted with method of the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling. It shows that attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control jointly influence travelers' discontinuance behavioral intention of integrated ride-hailing services, thereby confirming effectiveness of the theoretical framework. Noteworthily, perceived behavioral control is the strongest factor influencing discontinuance behavioral intention. Perceived risk, encompassing both driver-related and platform-related factors, negatively impacts satisfaction and attitude, subsequently influencing discontinuance behavioral intention. Further, perceived platform-related risk shows a higher impact than perceived driver-related risk. Moreover, switching cost exhibits negative correlations with both satisfaction and attitude, while satisfaction positively correlates with attitude. However, both factors negatively influence travelers' discontinuance behavioral intention regarding the service. Overall, these findings deepen the understanding of travelers’ discontinuance behavioral intention concerning integrated ride-hailing services and offer valuable insights to manage risks effectively for service providers.

Robust Left-Right Hashing Scheme for Ubiquitous Computing

Ubiquitous computing systems possess the capability to collect and process data, which is subsequently shared with other devices. These systems encounter resource challenges such as memory constraints, processor speed limitations, power consumption considerations, and the availability of data storage. Therefore, maintaining data access and query processing speed in ubiquitous computing is challenging. Hashing is crucial to search operations and has caught the interest of many researchers. Several hashing techniques have been proposed and Cuckoo Hashing is found efficient to use in several applications. There are two variants of Cuckoo Hashing: Parallel Cuckoo Hashing and Sequential Cuckoo Hashing. Cuckoo Hashing suffers from challenges like high insertion latency, inefficient memory usage, and data migration. This paper proposes two hashing schemes: Left-Right Hashing and Robust Left-Right Hashing that successfully address and solve the major challenges of Sequential Cuckoo Hashing. The proposed schemes adopt the Combinatorial Hashing technique after modification and use this with a new collision resolution technique called Left-Right Random Probing. Left-Right Random Probing is a variant of random probing and uses prime numbers and Fibonacci numbers. In addition, this paper proposes a new performance indicator, degree of dexterity to estimate the performance of hashing techniques. Sequential Cuckoo Hashing suffers from hidden switching costs which are identified and its estimation is given by a new performance indicator called, T.R.C./Key. Performance of Sequential Cuckoo Hashing is order dependent.

Impaired cognitive flexibility in major depressive disorder: Evidences from spatial-temporal ERPs analysis

BackgroundMajor Depressive Disorder (MDD) may exhibit impairments in cognitive flexibility. This study investigated whether the cognitive flexibility deficits in MDD are evident across general stimuli or specific to emotional stimuli, while exploring the underlying neuropsychological mechanism. MethodsA total of 41 MDD patients and 42 healthy controls (HCs) were recruited. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded when participants performed a non-emotional and an emotional task switching paradigm (N-ETSP and ETSP), both of which assessed cognitive flexibility. Microstate and source localization analysis were applied to reflect brain activity among different brain areas during task switching. ResultsIn the N-ETSP, MDD group showed larger P3 difference wave (Pd3) amplitudes and longer P2 difference wave (Pd2) latencies. In the ETSP, MDD group displayed smaller N2 difference wave (Nd2) amplitudes and larger Pd3 amplitudes. The comparison of sLORETA images of emotional switch task and emotional repeat task showed that MDD group had increased activation in the precentral gyrus in microstate2 of the P2 time window and had reduced activation in the middle occipital gyrus in microstate3 of the N2 time window. LimitationsThe cross-sectional design failed to capture dynamic changes in cognitive flexibility in MDD. ConclusionsMDD demonstrated impaired cognitive flexibility respond to both non-emotional and emotional stimuli, with greater impairment for negative emotional stimuli. These deficits are evident in abnormal ERPs component during the early attention stage and the later task preparation stage. Furthermore, abnormal emotional switching cost in MDD appears to be related to early abnormal perceptual control in the parietal-occipital cortex.

SME Owners' Willingness to Adopt Renewable Energy Technologies for Socio-Economic Development: A Perspective for Policy Decision Makers

This study investigates the willingness of small and medium enterprise (SME) owners and farmers in the rural Khairpur district of Sindh, Pakistan, to adopt clean energy initiatives (CEIs) in the agricultural sector. The research applies the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to evaluate eight hypotheses related to attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control (PBC) factors influencing the adoption of CEIs. Data was collected from 108 participants, and IBM SPSS was used for analysis. Key factors such as production quality, seasonal expenses, peer influence, market demand, and switching costs were examined. The results indicate that attitudes toward CEIs, such as improved production quality, lower seasonal expenses, and peer influence, positively impact the willingness to adopt CEIs. However, government policies and the diffusion of technologies were found to have an insignificant effect. The study concludes with policy recommendations aimed at facilitating the broader adoption of CEIs in agriculture to promote socio-economic development.

Model predictive control of 3L‐NPC inverter to enhance fault ride through capability under unbalanced grid conditions

AbstractUnbalanced voltages are becoming increasingly common in distribution networks due to the growing integrations of distributed renewable energy resources as well as large loads such as electric vehicle chargers. Such unbalanced voltages introduce significant control challenges as they produce ripples in the controlling signals, impacting the operation of inverters during the unbalanced conditions. Therefore, this paper proposes a controlling algorithm for three‐level inverters aimed at suppressing these ripples on controlling signals; improving the overall performance of inverters, and consequently enhancing the fault ride‐through capability under unbalanced conditions and faults. The proposed controlling algorithm enables inverters to operate in either a balanced current output mode or a suppressed‐ripple active power output mode, depending on the specific event scenario and demands from the grid operators. Current harmonics are suppressed even under severe faults. For improving the voltage balance on the DC capacitors in three‐level inverters, an enhanced method of neutral point current prediction is presented. The proposed method ensures higher balancing accuracy through the use of weighted switching costs, avoiding the requirement of a balancing controller or current extrapolation. Simulation and experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller for reliable grid operation.

Genotyping SNPs and Indels: A method to improve the scope and sensitivity of High-Resolution melt (HRM) analysis based applications

High-resolution melt (HRM) analysis is a closed-tube technique for detecting single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). However, it has limited use in high-resolution melting devices, even those with high thermal accuracy (HTA). In addition to the cost of switching to these specialized devices, the presence of nearest neighbour neutral changes (class III, IV SNPs and small indels) made HRM-based assays a challenging task due to reduced sensitivity. This study aimed to design a common modified competitive amplification of differently melting amplicons (CADMA)-based assay to address these challenges by generating allele-specific qPCR products that are detectable on most qPCR platforms.For this study, SNPs were selected from all four classes of SNPs (class I: C/T or G/A mutation; class II: C/A or G/T mutation; class III: G/C mutation; class IV: A/T mutation). A single base pair and 19 bp indels were also chosen to simulate how CADMA primers could be designed for indels of varying lengths. The melting temperatures (Tm) were determined using IDT oligoAnalyzer. qPCR and melt data acquisition were performed on the CFX96 qPCR platform, and the melt curve data were analyzed using Precision Melt software (Bio-Rad, USA). The clusters for different genotypes were successfully identified with the aid of the control samples, and Tm predictions were carried out using the uMelt batch and Tm online tools for comparison.Using HRM-qPCR assays based on the modified CADMA method, genotyping of various SNPs was successfully carried out. For some SNPs, similarly shaped melt curves were observed for homozygotes and heterozygotes, making shape-based genotype prediction difficult. The Tm values calculated via the Blake and Delcourts (1998) method were the closest to the experimental Tm values after adjusting for the salt concentration.Since HRM assays usually depend on the ΔTm caused by mutations, they are prone to a high error rate due to nearest neighbour neutral changes. The technique developed in this study significantly reduces the failure rates in HRM-based genotyping and could be applied to any SNP or indel in any platform. It is crucial to have a deep understanding of the melt instrument, its accuracy and the nature of the target (SNP class or indel length and GC content of the flanking region). Furthermore, the availability of controls is essential for a high success rate.

Study of The Factors That Influence Brand Loyalty Simpati Cards PT. Telkomsel Tbk

Customer loyalty is critical for success in today's saturated mobile telecommunications industry. However, maintaining allegiance remains challenging given technology advancements and intensifying competition. This study examines the determinants of loyalty towards Simpati, the prepaid brand of Indonesia's largest operator Telkomsel. A qualitative case study methodology was employed, comprising an extensive literature review on customer experience, satisfaction, trust, switching costs and their influence on brand loyalty in the mobile sector. Particular focus was placed on publications related to Telkomsel and its prepaid offerings. Customer data from secondary sources was also analyzed to identify patterns relating to the research objectives. The findings indicate that service quality is a key antecedent of customer experience and satisfaction. Superior fulfillment of expectations cultivates a positive brand image and drives attachment. Meanwhile, affective factors like emotional engagement and trust act as mediators reinforcing loyalty intentions over the long-term. Competitive pricing and targeted promotional campaigns also enhance perceived value. Additionally, high perceived switching costs curb defection propensity due to customers' sunk investments in the relationship.

Target switch costs in visual search arise during the preparatory activation of target templates.

Prior research on task switching has shown that the reconfiguration of stimulus-response mappings across trials is associated with behavioral switch costs. Here, we investigated the effects of switching representations of target-defining features in visual search (attentional templates). Participants searched for one of two color-defined target objects that changed predictably every two trials (Experiment 1) or every four trials (Experiment 2). Substantial costs were observed for search performance on target switch relative to target repeat trials. Preparatory target template activation processes were tracked by measuring N2pc components (indicative of attentional capture) to a rapid series of task-irrelevant color singleton probes that appeared during the interval between search displays, and either matched the currently relevant or the other target color. N2pcs to relevant target color probes emerged from 800 ms before search display onset on target repetition trials, reflecting the activation of a corresponding color template. Crucially, probe N2pcs only emerged immediately before target onset on target switch trials, indicating that preparatory template activation was strongly delayed. In contrast, irrelevant color singleton probes did not trigger N2pcs on either repeat or switch trials, suggesting the absence of any target template inertia across trials. These results show that switching the identity of search targets delays preparatory target template activation and impairs subsequent attentional guidance processes. They suggest that performance costs on switch versus repeat trials are associated with differences in the time course of task preparation.