Voluntary task switching: chasing the elusive homunculus |
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Authors: | Arrington Catherine M Logan Gordon D |
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Institution: | Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, 111 21st Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37203, USA. kate.arrington@lehigh.edu |
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Abstract: | In the voluntary task switching procedure, subjects choose the task to perform on a series of bivalent stimuli, requiring top-down control of task switching. Experiments 1-3 contrasted voluntary task switching and explicit task cuing. Choice behavior showed small, inconsistent effects of external stimulus characteristics, supporting the assumption of top-down control of task choice. Switch costs were smaller when subjects chose to switch tasks than when instructed by an external cue. Experiments 4-6 separated choice costs from switch costs. These findings support models of task switching that incorporate top-down processes in accounts of switch costs. The degree to which task switching procedures capture top-down versus bottom-up processes may depend on the extent of environmental support provided by the procedure. |
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