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Background Postanesthesia Care Unit (PACU) is an environment associated with an important workload which is susceptible to lead to task interruption (TI), leading to task-switching or concurrent multitasking. The objective of the study was to determine the predictors of the reaction of the nurses facing TI and assess those who lead to an alteration of the initial task. Methods We conducted a prospective observational study into the PACU of a university hospital during February 2017. Among 18 nurses, a selected one was observed each day, documenting for each TI the reaction of the nurse (task switching or concurrent multitasking), and the characteristics associated with the TI. We performed classification tree analyses using C5.0 algorithm in order to select the main predictors of the type of multitasking performed and the alteration of the initial task. Results We observed 1119 TI during 132 hours (8.5 TI/hour). The main reaction was concurrent multitasking (805 TI, 72%). The short duration of the task interruption (one minute or less) was the most important predictor leading to concurrent multitasking. Other predictors of response to TI were the identity of the task interrupter and the number of nurses present. Regarding the consequences of the task switching, long interruption (more than five minutes) was the most important predictor of the alteration of the initial task. Conclusions By analysing the predictors of the type of multitasking in front of TI, we propose a novel approach to understanding TI, offering new perspective for prevention strategies.

Adaptive behavior requires learning about the structure of one’s environment to derive optimal action policies, and previous studies have documented transfer of such structural knowledge to bias choices in new environments. Here, we asked whether people could also acquire and transfer more abstract knowledge across different task environments, specifically expectations about cognitive control demands. Over three experiments, participants performed a probabilistic card-sorting task in environments of either a low or high volatility of task rule changes (requiring low or high cognitive flexibility respectively) before transitioning to a medium-volatility environment. Using reinforcement learning modeling, we consistently found that previous exposure to high task rule volatilities led to faster adaptation to rule changes in the subsequent transfer phase. These transfers of expectations about cognitive flexibility demands were both task- (Experiment 2) and stimulus- (Experiment 3) independent, thus demonstrating the formation and generalization of environmental structure knowledge to guide cognitive control.Statement of RelevanceWe investigated whether structural knowledge of one task environment can be transferred to guide cognitive control strategies in new environments. Past research has found that while learning generally improves subsequent performance, it does so only for the learned task (“near transfer”) and has little or no generalizability to novel task rules and stimuli (“far transfer”). However, recent studies suggest that learning more abstract, structural task features (e.g., cognitive maps) allows for that knowledge to be applied to new environments. Here, we took a critical additional step and showed that people can acquire and transfer expectations about cognitive control demands (specifically cognitive flexibility) across different task environments. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of people’s ability to extract and re-use cognitive control learning parameters that transcend specific stimuli and tasks. This transfer of learned cognitive flexibility is particularly noteworthy because such flexibility is impaired in several common psychiatric conditions.

Generally the accelerators type identifies the edge computing performance hugely and it includes Integrated Circuit (IC), Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) and Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). Among these accelerator FPGAs are widely used in several edge computing areas since it has the ability to reconfigure and has high energy efficient. The consequence also comes out with the paradigm of scheduling efficiency on CPU’s (software tasks) and FPGA (hardware tasks). However the conventional schemes not entirely exploited the variations among hardware and software tasks which results in low scheduling efficiency. Therefore a task scheduling system is proposed on basis of fully active reconfigurable system. The scheduling efficiency for the proposed scheme can be increased by switching the task overheads and by predicting the execution time for hardware with minimum task switching times.

The ability to flexibly switch between tasks is key for goal-directed behavior and continues to improve across childhood. Children's task switching difficulties are thought to reflect less efficient engagement of sustained and transient control processes, resulting in lower performance on blocks that intermix tasks (sustained demand) and trials that require a task switch (transient demand). Sustained and transient control processes are associated with frontoparietal regions, which develop throughout childhood and may contribute to task switching development. We examined age differences in the modulation of frontoparietal regions by sustained and transient control demands in children (8-11 years) and adults. Children showed greater performance costs than adults, especially under sustained demand, along with less upregulation of sustained and transient control activation in frontoparietal regions. Compared to adults, children showed increased connectivity between the inferior frontal junction (IFJ) and lateral prefrontal cortex (lPFC) from single to mixed blocks. For children whose sustained activation was less adult-like, increased IFJ-lPFC connectivity was associated with better performance. Children with more adult-like sustained activation showed the inverse effect. These results suggest that individual differences in task switching in later childhood at least partly depend on the recruitment of frontoparietal regions in an adult-like manner.

Despite the well-documented negative effects of anxiety on task-switching (switch costs), few studies have directly tested major theoretical assumptions about (a) the specific processing component of task-switching that is impaired by anxiety, (b) anxious individuals' strategies during task-switching, and (c) the mediating role of mind wandering in the relation between anxiety and task-switching. We addressed these issues using a stochastic diffusion model analysis and novel thought-probe technique in the task-switching paradigm. Our results suggest that the locus of impaired switch costs under state anxiety lies in the efficiency of task-set reconfiguration and not in proactive interference processing. Moreover, state anxiety was associated with impaired mixing costs, which are another crucial index of task-switching. We found only partial evidence for anxious individuals' proneness to compensatory strategies during task-switching. However, no evidence was found for a mediating role of task-unrelated thoughts and a moderating role of working memory in the relation between anxiety and task-switching. Our findings elucidate theoretical assumptions underlying anxiety and cognitive functioning. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Published online: 11 March 2022 Speech perception and production are critical skills when acquiring a new language. However, the nature of the relationship between these two processes is unclear, particularly for non-native speech sound contrasts. Although it has been assumed that perception and production are supportive, recent evidence has demonstrated that, under some circumstances, production can disrupt perceptual learning. Specifically, producing the to-be-learned contrast on each trial can disrupt perceptual learning of that contrast. Here, we treat speech perception and speech production as separate tasks. From this perspective, perceptual learning studies that include a production component on each trial create a task switch. We report two experiments that test how task switching can disrupt perceptual learning. One experiment demonstrates that the disruption caused by switching to production is sensitive to time delays: Increasing the delay between perception and production on a trial can reduce and even eliminate disruption of perceptual learning. The second experiment shows that if a task other than producing the to-be-learned contrast is imposed, the task-switching component of disruption is not influenced by a delay. These experiments provide a new understanding of the relationship between speech perception and speech production, and clarify conditions under which the two cooperate or compete. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation Grants BCS-1734166, BCS-1941739, by Economic and Social Research Council (UK) Grant #ES/R006288/1, Ministerio de Ciencia E Inovacion (Spain) Grant # PSI2017-82563-P, by Ayuda Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa (Spain) SEV-2015-0490, and by Grant PIBA18-29 from the Basque Government

Switching between competing tasks is supported by active inhibition of the preceding task. The level of task stimulus processing at which interference between competing tasks must occur for inhibition to be recruited is still unclear. Here, we investigated whether inhibition is recruited by task conflict occurring at an early or late (semantic) stage of task stimulus processing by dissociating the task stimulus format from its meaning. In two experiments, participants performed three different numerical judgment tasks on numerical stimuli that could be presented as digits or number words (e.g., "6" or "six") in a cued task-switching procedure. The effects of the change of stimulus format for the inhibition of the previous task were investigated and assessed by the N-2 task repetition cost, an index of the extent to which task representations are inhibited. The N-2 task repetition cost observed in the same stimulus format condition disappeared when target stimuli on task N-1 were presented in a different format from stimuli of task N-2 and N. This occurred both when the format changed from digits to number words stimuli (Experiment 1) as well as when it changed from number words to digits stimuli (Experiment 2). Results indicated that task set inhibition is recruited very early during the stimulus processing stage. They also provided evidence that task inhibition is not tied to task preparation processes but operates as a reactive, rather than proactive mechanism of conflict resolution.

With the constantly increasing popularity of human multitasking, it is crucial to know why people engage in simultaneous task performance or switch between unfinished tasks. In the present article, we propose that multitasking behavior occurs when people have multiple active goals; the greater their number, the greater the degree of multitasking. The number of currently considered goals is reduced where one goal's significance overrides the others, reducing the degree of multitasking. We tested these hypotheses in a series of six studies in which we manipulated either goal activation or goal importance and investigated how this affected the degree of multitasking. The results showed that the more active goals participants actively entertained, the more likely they were to plan to engage in multitasking (Studies 1 and 5), and the more often they switched between tasks (Study 2). They also multitasked more under high interruption condition assumed to activate more goals than low interruption condition (Study 3). Further, we demonstrated that the degree of multitasking was significantly decreased by reducing the number of simultaneously considered goals, either via increasing the relative importance of one of the goals (Study 4) or via inducing greater commitment to one of the goals through a mental contrasting procedure (Study 5). Study 6, carried out in an academic context, additionally showed that the importance of a class-related goal negatively predicted media multitasking in class. The results thus show that goal activation is the underlying mechanism that explains why people multitask. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Using data collected from the Advancing Reliable Measurement in Alzheimer’s Disease and cognitive Aging (ARMADA; U2CAG057441) study, we will look at intraindividual variability (IIV) for two executive functioning (EF) tasks, the Dimensional Change Card Sort Task (DCCS) and the Flanker Inhibitory Control and Attention Test (Flanker) from the NIH Toolbox® for the Assessment of Neurological and Behavioral Function Cognition Battery (NIHTB). Although performance between DCCS and Flanker are related (see Table 1), DCCS is more akin to a measure of cognitive flexibility or task switching whereas Flanker measures executive attention and inhibitory control. IIV has been studied across a wide variety of tasks and has been associated with aging and cognitive status on both traditional neuropsychological tests and laboratory tasks measuring reaction time. To date, however, we are unaware of any studies that have used the NIHTB EF tasks to test individual differences in reaction time across groups with different levels of cognitive function and clinical phenotypes (e.g., aMCI) related to aging and neurodegenerative conditions.

Successfully exerting cognitive control is important for engaging in goal-directed, adaptive behavior (Cohen, 2017). Recent research has shown that cognitive control processes can be facilitated in a bottom-up manner via learned associations between stimuli and control states: Using task switching paradigms where specific items were associated with higher or lower switch probability, it has been demonstrated successfully that switch costs were smaller for items associated with higher task switching probability, an 'item-specific switch proportion' (ISSP) effect (Leboe et al, 2008; Chiu & Egner, 2017). Similar effects had been demonstrated using the Stoop task before (e.g., Bugg et al., 2008; Spinelli & Lubker, 2020; Suh & Bugg, 2021; Spinelli et al., 2022). Notably, there is still some debate on the dissociation between stimulus-control state associations and simpler forms of stimulus-response learning. However, the use of more rigorous experimental manipulations to control for common confounds (see Braem et al., 2019 for review) has yielded results that speak to the formation of true stimulus-control state associations as a form of adaptive control (e.g., in Chiu & Egner, 2017). The common interpretation of the ISSP effect is that individual stimuli become tied to specific control demands (i.e., repeating or switching tasks). This implies that the way these stimuli are cognitively represented may be altered by the control associations. Whether this is truly the case has not previously been investigated. Studying representational maps of stimuli and their features has a longstanding tradition in neuroimaging and multivariate analyses such as representational similarity analysis (Kriegeskorte et al., 2008) are commonly used for this purpose. Recently, a behavioral version of this analysis method has been introduced by Karagoz et al. (2022) using a two-step task. Their so-called behavioral representational similarity analysis technique relies on participants’ ratings of the pairwise relatedness between all task items before and after completing a task. The rationale is that the difference between pre- and post-task similarity ratings reflects higher-order relationships between items induced by the structure of the task at hand. Here, we apply this new method to a task switching paradigm including ISSP to study whether participants form behaviorally measurable cognitive representations of item-specific control demands.

Planning underpins the impressive flexibility of goal-directed behavior. However, even when planning, people can display surprising rigidity in how they think about problems (e.g., ``functional fixedness'' effects) that lead them astray. How can our capacity for behavioral flexibility be reconciled with our susceptibility to conceptual inflexibility? We propose that these tendencies reflect people's avoidance of two cognitive costs: the cost of representing task details and the cost of switching between families of representations. To test this hypothesis, we developed a novel paradigm that affords participants opportunities to choose different families of simplified representations to plan. In two pre-registered studies, we found that participants' optimal behavior, suboptimal behavior, and reaction time are explained by a computational model that formalizes people's avoidance of representational complexity and switching. These results demonstrate how the selection of simplified, rigid representations leads to the otherwise puzzling combination of flexibility and inflexibility observed in problem solving.

Individuals can reactively adjust their attention based on implicitly learned associations between external cues and the likelihood of conflict. To form these associations, individuals may engage in three primary learning processes. First, context-based learning may occur when individuals implicitly learn associations between salient contextual features (e.g., spatial location) of a stimulus and its proportion congruency. Second, conjunctive-based learning may occur when individuals implicitly learn context-item conjunctions and their proportion congruencies. Third, item-based learning may occur when individuals implicitly learn associations between stimulus features and their proportion congruencies, regardless of the context in which the stimuli appear. In the present study, we wish to investigate whether task-relevance can shift the dominance of one form of learning over the other. More specifically, to date it appears that item-based learning dominates over context-based learning in the context-specific proportion congruence (CSPC) paradigm (see Bugg et al., 2020). In the current experiment we will utilize a prime-probe Stroop CSPC paradigm as in other prior studies of the CSPC (Crump & Milliken, 2009; Crump et al., 2017; Hutcheon & Spieler, 2017), but with two critical differences. First, the color-word prime will appear in the location of the upcoming color-patch probe rather than at the central fixation point as in prior studies. Second, participants will respond to both the prime and probe stimuli. Thus, unlike in prior studies, the prime will possess target-defining features. Given that target-defining features (a) involuntarily capture attention (Moore & Weissman, 2010; Serences et al., 2005; Grant & Weissman, 2017) and (b) are more strongly encoded (Hommel, 2007) and retrieved (Huffman et al., 2020) from episodic memory, participants might be more likely to engage in context-based (vs. item-based) learning. Moreover, having participants respond to both the prime and the probe should eliminate task switching (i.e., do NOT respond to the prime vs. do respond to the probe) both within and across trials, thereby enhancing episodic retrieval for such features (Grant & Weissman, 2019).

The temporal predictability of upcoming events plays a crucial role in the adjustment of anticipatory cognitive control in multitasking. Previous research has demonstrated that task switching performance improved if tasks were validly predictable by a pre-target interval. Hence, far, the underlying cognitive processes of time-based task expectancy in task switching have not been clearly defined. The present study investigated whether the effect of time-based expectancy is due to expectancy of post-perceptual task components or rather due to facilitation of perceptual visual processing of the coloured task indicator. Participants performed two numeric judgment tasks (parity vs. magnitude), which were each indicated by two different colours. Each task was either more or less frequently preceded by one of two intervals (500 ms or 1500 ms). Tasks were indicated either by colours that were each more frequently (or in Exp. 1 also less frequently) paired with the interval or by colours that were equally frequent for each interval. Participants only responded faster when colour and task were predictable by time (expected colour), not when the task alone was predictable (neutral colour). Hence, our results speak in favour of perceptual time-based task indicator expectancy being the underlying cognitive mechanism of time-based expectancy in the task switching paradigm.

Studies of switching between tasks and studies of error commission have both provided solid behavioral measures of executive control. Nonetheless, a gap remains between these strands of research. In three experiments we sought to reduce this gap by assessing the impact of task errors on N-2 repetition costs, an effect supposedly related to task-set inhibition. Based on previous literature reporting a task-switch benefit following task errors, due to incidental learning of the erroneously executed task-set, we predicted N-2 repetition costs to be decreased after task errors in Trial N-2, relative to correct responses. Furthermore, we predicted this effect to be present only when corrective control mechanisms would not have the time to build up on the post-error trial (i.e., following fast post-error trial only). This hypothesis was tested in a three-tasks paradigm using incongruent stimuli, under the assumption that errors on such trials are partly due to task confusions. Consistent with our predictions, N-2 repetition costs following N-2 errors were found to be reduced when responses in Trial N-1 were fast but were present when the N-1 response was slow. Taken together, our results suggest that task execution leads to associative strengthening of the corresponding task-set, irrespective of response accuracy, and that such automatic strengthening can be counteracted by slowly acting control mechanisms. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Switching between two or more tasks is a key component in our modern world. Task switching, however, requires time-consuming executive control processes and thus produces performance costs when compared to task repetitions. While executive control during task switching has been associated with activation in the lateral prefrontal cortex (lPFC), only few studies so far have investigated the causal relation between lPFC activation and task-switching performance by modulating lPFC activation. In these studies, the results of lPFC modulation were not conclusive or limited to the left lPFC. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the effect of non-invasive transcranial direct current stimulation [tDCS; anodal tDCS (1 mA, 20 min) vs. cathodal tDCS (1 mA, 20 min) vs. sham tDCS (1 mA, 30 s)] over the right inferior frontal junction on task-switching performance in a well-established task-switching paradigm. In response times, we found a significant effect of tDCS Condition (atDCS, ctDCS vs. sham) on task-switching costs, indicating the modulation of task-switching performance by tDCS. In addition, we found a task-unspecific tDCS Condition effect in the first experimental session, in which participants were least familiar with the task, indicating a general enhancement of task performance in both task repetitions and task-switching trials. Taken together, our study provides evidence that the right lPFC is involved in task switching as well as in general task processing. Further studies are needed to investigate whether these findings can be translated into clinically relevant improvement in older subjects or populations with executive function impairment.

Adolescents commonly exhibit high stress and emotional reactivity, and are prone to addictive behaviors including online gaming. Despite the negative impact, online gaming has recently been reported to improve cognitive function. This study examines differences in event-related potentials (ERP) during task switching according to the level of gaming addiction. High-risk, potential-risk, and general groups were recruited according to their Internet Addiction Scale results and total forty-five middle school boys aged 13–15 years participated in the study. The participants were asked to perform switching tasks consisting of size, value, and shape stimuli. The ERP analysis revealed greater N200 amplitudes in the high-risk and potential-risk groups compared with the general user group, suggesting that the participants with a greater involvement in Internet gaming have higher cognitive flexibility in resolving response-related cognitive interference during task-switching. In the analyses of P300, the potential-risk group exhibited higher amplitudes compared with the high-risk and general user groups at F3 region, and during the shape task, separately, which reflects enhanced cognitive flexibility of the potential-risk group to process the stimulus-related interference. The findings of this study suggest that moderate use of online games can enhance response inhibition and stimulus processing. The practical use of online games as an auxiliary means to support cognitive flexibility of adolescents struggling with stress and emotion processing should be explored in future research.

Using a simulated baggage screening task, we investigated two literature-supported mitigation strategies for reducing the negative effects of task switching, namely less frequent switching and memory support. The study replicates widely reported switching effects on a complex task. The results also show that people can improve performance when provided memory support. When task switching, people can struggle to retrieve the correct task instruction due to the automatic process behind functional memory decay. Memory support reduces the negative effects of functional decay by providing people a reminder.

This study is part of a larger doctoral dissertation project which aims to examine the relationship between executive functioning and mind wandering multidimensionally. Specifically, we will look at the relationships between executive functioning in terms of three facets (working memory, task switching, and response inhibition); and mind wandering in terms of three aspects (frequency, meta-awareness, and intentionality). Executive functioning will be quantified using cognitive tasks and a self-report rating scale. Mind wandering will be measured using thought sampling during an additional task and a self-report rating scale. Previous literature has largely focused on the relationship between executive functioning and mind wandering, with executive functioning considered primarily in terms of working memory (e.g., Kane & McVay, 2012; Thomson et al., 2015). Few studies have extended on this, by additionally examining executive functioning in terms of task switching and response inhibition (e.g., Kam & Handy, 2014; Keulers & Jonkman, 2019). Most of this research has also only considered mind wandering primarily in terms of frequency, without consideration of both meta-awareness and intentionality. This had led to two competing theoretical accounts of the relationship between executive functioning and mind wandering, which do not clearly account for all the facets of executive functioning and aspects of mind wandering (Kane & McVay, 2012; Smallwood, 2010; Smallwood & Schooler, 2006; Thomson et al., 2015). Expanding on previous research by examining the multiple dimensions of executive functioning and mind wandering simultaneously has great utility for further developing these theories, which will in turn encourage further research.

Dynamically preparing for an incoming task or response is vital in our every lives. For example, when playing tennis or badminton, we need to constantly update our belief on which direction the ball will hit coming from the opposing side so that we can get ready for it by running towards that direction and adjusting the angle of the racket. for experienced players, the movement and the posture of the opponent can serve as implicit cues, based on which they can update their belief. And this ability turns out to be not unique for human. In fact, previous study (Starkweather et al., 2017) showed that rodents were able to make use of the predictive value of inter-trial interval (ITI) to expect if the reward will be delivered or not. Similar result has also been observed in human study recently. One study (Aufschnaiter et al., 2021) showed that participants were also able to learn the contingency between the length of ITI and the probability of task switching and used it to better prepare for the incoming task. In current study, we designed a cued image categorization task, during which participants have to prepare for the particular task they need to perform based on the task cue. However, for certain trials, the to-be-performed task will be transformed into a new one, made explicit by another task cue appearing on the screen before the stimulus onset. In this case, participants have to perform the new task instead of the original one. Another key manipulation is the cue target interval (CTI), which can be used to predict if the task will transform or not. The longer the CTI is, the more likely the task will transform. Thus, we are interested in if participants are able to make use of the predictive value of the CTI to better prepare for the task transform, measured by reaction time (RT) and accuracy rate (AR).

Cognitive control is often context-specific. For instance, changing the modality-specific task set across consecutive trials often eliminates the congruency sequence effect (CSE), an index of cognitive control (Hazletine et al., 2011; Grant et al., 2020). To further investigate modality-specific boundaries of the CSE, we recently conducted an experiment involving a modified version of the cross-modal prime-probe task. As in prior studies, trial stimuli were presented in either the auditory or the visual modality (i.e., “auditory” trials and “visual” trials). Unlike in prior studies, however, participants responded to both the prime and the probe (vs. just the probe) in every trial. Under these task conditions, we found that changing the modality-specific task set across consecutive trials reduced, but did not eliminate, the CSE. Such findings support the binary coding view, which posits that repeating an abstract, previous-trial feature (e.g., the overall S-R mapping) in the current trial may cue the retrieval of the previous trial’s congruency, thereby engendering a CSE, even when the task-set changes. However, an alternative explanation exists for the significant CSE in modality-switch trials. In our modified prime-probe task, participants responded to the same stimulus category (direction words; Left-Right-Up-Down) in both the auditory and visual sensory modalities. Thus, one possibility is that participants coded visual and auditory features as belonging to an overarching semantic task set (i.e., a direction-word task set) rather than belonging to a pair of separate, modality-specific task sets (i.e., an auditory task set and a visual task set). According to this semantic coding view, repeating the semantic task set (direction words) in the current trial cues the retrieval of the previous-trial’s congruency even when the sensory modality changed. If so, this would explain the significant CSE we previously observed in modality-switch trials. Critically, unlike the binary coding view, this explanation does not posit that a CSE can occur when the task set changes, because it posits that visual and auditory trials belong to a single, overarching task set. To test this alternative view, in the present study we will again employ a modified version of the cross-modal prime-probe task. Unlike in our prior experiment, however, auditory and visual stimuli will come from two different semantic categories (letters and direction words) as opposed to a single semantic category (direction words). Specifically, each stimulus category will be presented in a separate modality. Thus, letter stimuli will only be presented in the auditory modality and direction words will only be presented in the visual modality (or vice-versa). Participants will respond to these stimuli as follows: Left or A - press the F key with the left middle finger Right or B - press the G key with the left index finger Up or C - press the J key with the right middle finger Down or D - press the N key with the right index finger Under these task conditions, the binary and semantic coding views make separate predictions. The binary coding view posits that a change in the modality-specific task set should again reduce, but not eliminate, the CSE (as in our prior study). This is because the previous trial’s overall S-R mapping (i.e., identify the stimulus via a button press) always repeats in the current trial, thereby serving as a retrieval cue for the previous trial’s congruency even in modality-switch trials. In contrast, the semantic coding view posits that, in the absence of an overarching semantic task set (i.e., direction words), a change in the modality-specific task set should eliminate the CSE. This is because, unlike in our previous experiment, a change in modality (e.g., auditory to visual) is always accompanied by a change in stimulus category (e.g., letters to direction words). As such, an overarching semantic task set cannot serve as a retrieval cue for the previous-trial’s congruency in modality-switch trials.

Cognitive control is often context-specific. For instance, changing the modality-specific task set across consecutive trials often eliminates the congruency sequence effect (CSE), an index of cognitive control (Hazeltine et al., 2011; Grant et al., 2020). To further investigate modality-specific boundaries of the CSE, we recently conducted an experiment involving a modified version of the cross-modal prime-probe task. As in prior studies, trial stimuli were presented in either the auditory or the visual modality (i.e., “auditory” trials and “visual” trials). Unlike in prior studies, however, participants responded to both the prime and the probe (vs. just the probe) in every trial. Under these task conditions, we found that changing the modality-specific task set across consecutive trials reduced, but did not eliminate, the CSE. Such findings support the binary coding view, which posits that repeating an abstract, previous-trial feature (e.g., the overall S-R mapping) in the current trial may cue the retrieval of the previous trial’s congruency, thereby engendering a CSE, even when the task-set changes. However, an alternative explanation exists for the significant CSE in modality-switch trials. In our modified prime-probe task, participants responded to the same stimulus category (direction words; Left-Right-Up-Down) in both the auditory and visual sensory modalities. Thus, one possibility is that participants coded visual and auditory features as belonging to an overarching semantic task set (i.e., a direction-word task set) rather than belonging to a pair of separate, modality-specific task sets (i.e., an auditory task set and a visual task set). According to this semantic coding view, repeating the semantic task set (direction words) in the current trial cues the retrieval of the previous-trial’s congruency even when the sensory modality changed. If so, this would explain the significant CSE we previously observed in modality-switch trials. Critically, unlike the binary coding view, this explanation does not posit that a CSE can occur when the task set changes, because it posits that visual and auditory trials belong to a single, overarching task set. To test this alternative view, in the present study we will again employ a modified version of the cross-modal prime-probe task. Unlike in our prior experiment, however, auditory and visual stimuli will come from two different semantic categories (letters and direction words) as opposed to a single semantic category (direction words). Specifically, each stimulus category will be presented in a separate modality. Thus, letter stimuli will only be presented in the auditory modality and direction words will only be presented in the visual modality (or vice-versa). Participants will respond to these stimuli as follows: Left or A - press the F key with the left middle finger Right or B - press the G key with the left index finger Up or C - press the J key with the right middle finger Down or D - press the N key with the right index finger Under these task conditions, the binary and semantic coding views make separate predictions. The binary coding view posits that a change in the modality-specific task set should again reduce, but not eliminate, the CSE (as in our prior study). This is because the previous trial’s overall S-R mapping (i.e., identify the stimulus via a button press) always repeats in the current trial, thereby serving as a retrieval cue for the previous trial’s congruency even in modality-switch trials. In contrast, the semantic coding view posits that, in the absence of an overarching semantic task set (i.e., direction words), a change in the modality-specific task set should eliminate the CSE. This is because, unlike in our previous experiment, a change in modality (e.g., auditory to visual) is always accompanied by a change in stimulus category (e.g., letters to direction words). As such, an overarching semantic task set cannot serve as a retrieval cue for the previous-trial’s congruency in modality-switch trials.

Recent research demonstrated that mere presentation of a task cue influences subsequent unconscious semantic priming by attentional sensitization of related processing pathways. The direction of this influence depended on task-set dominance. Dominant task sets with a compatible cue-task mapping were supposed to be rapidly suppressed, while weak task sets showed more sustainable activation. Building on this research, we manipulated cue-task compatibility as instance of task-set dominance in two experiments and tested how masked semantic priming was influenced by actually performing the cued task (induction-task trials) or by mere cue presentation (task cue-only trials). In induction-task trials, the results of earlier research were replicated; semantic priming was larger following a semantic induction task compared to a perceptual induction task. In task cue-only trials, priming effects were reversed compared to induction-task trials in both experiments. Priming was larger for a perceptual compared to a semantic task set in task cue-only trials, indicating suppression of task sets following mere cue presentation in preparation for the upcoming lexical decision task. This notion of an inhibition of task sets after mere cue presentation was further supported by switching-related costs and changes of task-set implementation throughout the experiment. The absence of a moderator role of cue-task compatibility for task cue effects on priming in the present study suggests that the precise time course of task-set activation and inhibition in response to task cues as a function of cue-task compatibility might depend on specific experimental settings., publishedVersion

Automatic task scheduling and collision-free path planning for multi-task optimization is a great challenge in various industrial applications. It is a typical coupling problem between task sequence optimization and collision-free path planning. When each task is considered as an area, the problem’s complexity and difficulty will be significantly increased. Task visited sequence, task region entry point optimization, and task switching collision-free path planning should be considered for trade-offs. This paper presents a novel automatic approach to solve task scheduling and collision-free path planning for the multi-areas problem. The proposed method decomposes the problem into two components: task sequence optimization problem and optimal collision-free path planning problem. Firstly, each task is simplified to a point based on the task equivalent center method, and then the task visited sequence is optimized based on Lin Kernighan Heuristic (LKH) algorithm and task equivalent center cost matrix. Secondly, a collision-free optimal tour obtained by performing the rubber-band algorithm (RBA) task entry point optimization and collision-free path planning. Finally, there are three major types of scenarios discussed in this paper: task planning in a complex environment, multi-task planning, and multi-mixed tasks planning in a complex environment, designed to demonstrate the proposed feasibility multi-task planning algorithm. The results show that the presented approach could find a feasible collision-free task visit tour in various complex multi-tasks planning.

The one-shot pairing of a stimulus with a specific cognitive control process, such as task switching, can bind the two together in memory. The episodic control-binding hypothesis posits that the formation of temporary stimulus-control bindings, which are held in event-files supported by episodic memory, can guide the contextually appropriate application of cognitive control. Across two experiments, we sought to examine the role of task-focused attention in the encoding and implementation of stimulus-control bindings in episodic event-files. In Experiment 1, we obtained self-reports of mind wandering during encoding and implementation of stimulus-control bindings. Results indicated that, whereas mind wandering during the implementation of stimulus-control bindings does not decrease their efficacy, mind wandering during the encoding of these control-state associations interferes with their successful deployment at a later point. In Experiment 2, we complemented these results by using trial-by-trial pupillometry to measure attention, again demonstrating that attention levels at encoding predict the subsequent implementation of stimulus-control bindings better than attention levels at implementation. These results suggest that, although encoding stimulus-control bindings in episodic memory requires active attention and engagement, once encoded, these bindings are automatically deployed to guide behavior when the stimulus recurs. These findings expand our understanding of how cognitive control processes are integrated into episodic event files. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.3758/s13414-021-02343-9.

During task‐switching paradigms, both event‐related potentials and time‐frequency analyses show switch and mixing effects at frontal and parietal sites. Switch and mixing effects are associated with increased power in broad frontoparietal networks, typically stronger in the theta band (~4–8 Hz). However, it is not yet known whether mixing and switch costs rely upon common or distinct networks. In this study, we examine proactive and reactive control networks linked to task switching and mixing effects, and whether strength of connectivity in these networks is associated with behavioural outcomes. Participants (n = 197) completed a cued‐trials task‐switching paradigm with concurrent electroencephalography, after substantial task practice to establish strong cue‐stimulus–response representations. We used inter‐site phase clustering, a measure of functional connectivity across electrode sites, to establish cross‐site connectivity from a frontal and a parietal seed. Distinct theta networks were activated during proactive and reactive control periods. During the preparation interval, mixing effects were associated with connectivity from the frontal seed to parietal sites, and switch effects with connectivity from the parietal seed to occipital sites. Lateralised occipital connectivity was common to both switch and mixing effects. After target onset, frontal and parietal seeds showed a similar pattern of connectivity across trial types. These findings are consistent with distinct and common proactive control networks and common reactive networks in highly practised task‐switching performers., During task‐switching paradigms, both event‐related potentials and time‐frequency analyses show switch and mixing effects at frontal and parietal sites. However, it is not yet known whether mixing and switch costs rely upon common or distinct networks. During the preparation interval, mixing effects were associated with connectivity from the frontal seed to parietal sites, and switch effects with connectivity from the parietal seed to occipital sites.

While cognitive control enables the selection of goal-relevant responses, metacontrol enables the selection of context-appropriate control operations. In task switching, metacontrol modulates task-switching efficiency by retrieving the associations between a contextual cue and a particular cognitive control demand. While the automatic retrieval of cognitive control is appealing due to its time and energy efficiency, the effects of different contextual cues have been shown in separate studies and appear to have different characteristics. Here, we devised a single task-switching paradigm to test whether we can observe both list-wide and item-specific metacontrol within subjects. In two experiments, we demonstrated reduced switch costs in lists associated with a high probability of switching as compared with lists with a low probability of switching (i.e., a list-wide switch probability [LWSP] effect). Similarly, we observed an analogous item-specific switch probability (ISSP) effect such that items associated with a high probability of switching incurred smaller switch costs as compared with items associated with a low probability of switching. We also confirmed that both list-wide and item-specific switch probability effects were not dependent on lower-level stimulus-response associations. However, the LWSP and the ISSP effects were uncorrelated, suggesting a lack of dependence. Together, these findings suggest that there are two distinct modes of metacontrol that are deployed in a context-sensitive manner in order to adapt to specific cognitive demands.

PurposeKnowledge workers live and work in a technology-enabled, push-notification world full of interruptions that create information overload, often requiring these workers to utilize task switching as a mechanism to meet multiple competing tasks' demands. Previous research has examined both the positive and, more often, negative effects from interruptions and task switching on knowledge workers' performance. However, this paper aims to examine knowledge workers' agentic approach to managing interruption signals and consequent task switching to remain dedicated to the task at hand.Design/methodology/approachUsing an inductive grounded theory approach, we analyzed data from semi-structured interviews with knowledge workers regarding their experiences with task management strategies in interruption-heavy environments.FindingsThe results indicate the emergence of a new construct that we define as “task adherence.” We identified behavioral and technological mechanisms that knowledge workers employ to adhere to tasks, and we also categorized a host of environmental, personal and task-related factors that influence a knowledge worker's task adherence level.Practical implicationsThis study offers a novel conceptualization of key determinants of knowledge workers' task management. Through insights into how knowledge workers purposefully prepare for and address potential interruption signals, as well as manage task switching from subsequent interruptions, managers may be able to design new work processes to improve task performance.Originality/valueIn a world of interruptions, task adherence adds to and clarifies a missing element in the time and task management dilemma that can enhance future efforts in designing strategies that enable knowledge workers to be more productive.

In this project we examine an effect of task switching instruction on switch cue evaluations

The present study aims to investigate the role of attention in the allocation of the memory resource described by the continuous-resource model (see Bays, Catalao, & Husain, 2009) and other hybrid "discrete-resource" models, such as the slots+averaging and slots+resources models (see Zhang & Luck, 2008).

The present, pre-registered study is one in a series which aims to determine how the visual short-term memory resource outlined by Bays and colleagues (see e.g., Bays, Catalao, & Husain, 2009; Bays & Husain, 2008; Ma, Husain, & Bays, 2014), is allocated to visual items. Experiments 3a and 3b will be conducted in a confirmatory capacity, building upon initial work conducted by the authors of this pre-registration, with Experiments 3c and 3d aiming to extend these findings.

This is an implementation of a Switching Task for OpenSesame (with mouse/touch input).

Recent research suggests that people can learn to link the control process of task switching to predictive cues so that switch costs are attenuated following informative precues of switch likelihood. However, the precise conditions that shape such contextual cuing of control are not well understood. Farooqui and Manly (2015) raised the possibility that cued task switching is more effective when cues of control demand are presented subliminally. In the current study, we aimed to replicate and extend these findings by more systematically manipulating whether cues of control demand are consciously perceived or are presented subliminally and whether participants have explicit prior knowledge of the cue meaning or acquire cue knowledge through experience. The direct replication was unsuccessful: We found no evidence for effective subliminal cuing but observed some evidence for participants reducing switch costs with explicit, supraliminal cues. Thus, cognitive control may be guided most effectively by explicitly understood and consciously perceived precues.

Humans form associations between time intervals and subsequent events and thus develop time-based expectancies that enable time-based action preparation. For instance, when each of two foreperiods (short vs. long) is frequently paired with one specific task (e.g., number magnitude judgment vs. number parity judgment) and infrequently with the alternative task, participants are faster to respond to frequent rather than infrequent foreperiod-task combinations. Here, we investigated the time course of time-based task expectancy by measuring eye movements toward a left and right target location. Foreperiods predicted target locations with 100% validity and tasks with 90% validity. In 2 experiments, without having any explicit knowledge about the foreperiod-location or foreperiod-task contingencies, participants first moved their eyes to the location associated with the short foreperiod and then looked toward the location of the long foreperiod (if no stimulus had been presented after the short foreperiod had passed). That is, they proactively moved their eyes to optimize perception in line with the specific time and location they expected an event to occur at. Importantly, these eye movements reflected not only time-based location expectations, but also time-based task expectations. We discuss new insights in time-based expectancy and its temporal dynamics obtained from anticipatory eye movements and highlight spontaneous eye movements as a window into cognitive processes that cannot be assessed via behavioral response measures. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

It is a very robust finding that certain cognitive functions are strongly lateralized in the human brain, eliciting predominantly right hemispheric or left hemispheric activation. The most extensively studied (typically left) lateralized function is language (Knecht et al., 2000; Willemin et al., 2016). Some typical right lateralized functions include (holistic) face processing (Calvo & Beltrán, 2014) and spatial attention (Fink et al., 2000; Jansen et al., 2006). In this study we are testing a prominent hypothesis on the putative advantage of functional cerebral asymmetries (FCA's), namely the enhancement of parallel processing (Levy, 1969; Rogers, 2000). The exact origins of functional segregation in the human brain remain a debated topic, the theory on lateralization and parallel processing argues that by predominantly engaging one hemisphere for a certain set of functions, and the other for another set of functions, the workload can be divided over the two cerebral hemispheres in order to allow humans to more efficiently engage in multitasking. One would expect that parallel processing is better when the two tasks can be executed by different hemispheres, as the workload can be divided. This study aims to answer the question: ‘Are humans better at multitasking (task switching) when both tasks are predominantly executed by opposing hemispheres?’ As we will use task switching in this experiment, we will refer to the situation where both tasks are processed by the same hemisphere as ‘ipsilateral task switching’ or ‘ipsilateral switches’. We will refer to the situation in which the two tasks are processed by opposing hemispheres as ‘contralateral task switching’ or ‘contralateral switches’. In addition to differences between ipsilateral and contralateral switches, we will investigate a potential difference between contralateral homotopic switches (switching from a task that elicits activity in one hemisphere to a task that elicits activity in the same area but in the opposite hemisphere) and contralateral heterotopic switches (switching from a task that elicits activity in one hemisphere to a task that activates a different area in the opposite hemisphere) In order to answer these research questions we will use a task switching paradigm that includes three tasks: 1. A lexical decision (LD) task, which in right handed participants, predominantly elicits neural activity in the fusiform area of the left hemisphere - visual word form area VWFA. (Cohen et al., 2000; Cai et al., 2008) 2. A face processing (FP) task, which in right handed participants, predominantly elicits neural activity in the fusiform area of the right hemisphere - fusiform face area FFA, contralateral homologue of VWFA. (Tong et al., 2000) 3. A landmark (LM) task, which in right handed participants, predominantly elicits neural activity in the posterior parietal cortex of the right hemisphere (Seydell-Greenwald et al., 2019). With these three tasks we will measure performance in 6 conditions: 1. Pure LD condition: this condition includes LD task trials only (no other tasks or task switching) 2. Pure FP condition: this condition includes face recognition trials only (no other tasks or task switching) 3. Pure LM condition: this condition includes landmark task trials only (no other tasks or task switching) 4. LD_LM condition: This condition includes both lexical decision trials as landmark task trials. Participants have to switch between both tasks at unexpected moments. 5. LD_FP condition: This condition includes both lexical decision trials as face recognition trials. Participants have to switch between both tasks at unexpected moments. 6. LM_FP condition: This condition includes both landmark task trials as face recognition trials. Participants have to switch between both tasks at unexpected moments. To provide an answer to our first research question (Is there less interference when both tasks preferentially engage a different hemisphere?) we will compare interference due to task switching in the face recognition task of the LD_FP condition with interference in the face recognition task in the LM_FP condition. Since face recognition is a typically right lateralized function, as well as spatial attention that is required for the landmark task, the LM_FP condition will provide us with a measure of interference that results from ipsilateral task switching. The lexical decision task on the other hand typically elicits strong left lateralized activity, therefore the LD_FP condition will provide us with a measure of interference that results from contralateral task switching. To answer our second research question (is there a difference between contralateral homotopic and contralateral heterotopic switches?) we will compare interference in the lexical decision task in the LD_LM condition with interference in the lexical decision task in the LD_FP condition. Since face recognition primarily activates the FFA, the contralateral homologue of the VWFA (as activated by the lexical decision task), this condition will provide us with a measure of interference that results from contralateral homotopic switches. As the landmark task primarily activates right parietal areas, this condition will provide us with a measure of interference that results from contralateral heterotopic switches. Should we observe the hypothesised differences, then we should rule out the possible explanation of pre-existing differences in task difficulty. For example, greater interference due to task switching in the LM_FP condition compared to the LD_FP condition might be interpreted as evidence that parallel processing is facilitated when both tasks are preferentially processed by a different hemisphere. An alternative explanation might be that the landmark task is simply more challenging than the lexical decision task and hence causes more interference. To address this potential problem, we will verify that the three tasks are similar in difficulty by comparing performance in the three ‘pure’ conditions.

Mindfulness-based interventions may be able to promote human stress management and reduce anxiety or depression. They also seem to positively influence cognitive performance. We want to find out how Hatha Yoga, a well-established mindfulness intervention and the most common form of yoga, affects emotional and cognitive processes. Building on Attentional Control Theory (Eysenck et al., 2007), that states that anxiety and stress impair the inhibition and shifting functions of attention, we hypothesize that an eight-week yoga intervention improves inhibition, multimodal task switching and switching between different attentional control sets. We additionally hypothesize that these changes are achieved by lowering stress and anxiety levels and restoring the balance between goal-directed and stimulus-driven attention. We seek to prove these hypotheses by conducting a randomised controlled trial with an experimental and a waitlisted control group, with the experimental group actively participating in a 60-minute hatha yoga intervention at least three times a week for 8 weeks. We use a combination of questionnaires, electroencephalography (EEG), biological measures and behavioral experiments.

In this project we examine the effect of task switching instructions on switch cue evaluations.

This experiment will explore how attentional control impacts visual short-term memory performance, whilst controlling for cue-switch effects.

Neurocognitive training has been shown to improve a range of cognitive/executive functions and behavior in children. Delivering this training in a school context may enhance its ecological validity and improve training outcomes. The current study examined the efficacy of two school-based neurocognitive training approaches for enhancing executive functions (EF) in typically developing children: neurocognitive training with no teacher positive feedback (NCT), and neurocognitive training with teacher positive feedback (NCT-TPF). Using a randomized control design, 45 children were randomly allocated to the no-training control, NCT, or NCT-TPF group and completed pre- and post-training assessments on the core executive function (EF) domains of inhibitory control, working memory, and task switching. Teachers’ subjective acceptance of the two training protocols was investigated to explore potential ecological validity. The two training groups completed six sessions of training in a kindergarten over a 3-week period. The results showed significant post-training improvements in an untrained inhibitory control task for both training groups when compared with the control group. Different effects were found for each group for the untrained task switching task. While reduced reaction time (RT) in correct Color and Shape trials at Time 2 were reported for the NCT-TPF group, there was no difference compared to the control group for the NCT group. The NCT group showed increased RT in Switch trials but reduced Shape errors compared to controls at Time 2, while these effects were not significant for the NCT-TPF group. An unexpected outcome was that children in both training conditions did not show a significant improvement in an untrained working memory task. Teachers’ subjective acceptance consistently supported including positive feedback as part of NCT. While further research is needed, these results support use of neurocognitive training and/or neurocognitive training with teacher positive feedback for typically developing children in a school context.

In everyday behavior, sensory systems are in constant competition for attentional resources, but the cellular and circuit-level mechanisms of modality-selective attention remain largely uninvestigated. We conducted translaminar recordings in mouse auditory cortex (AC) during an audiovisual (AV) attention shifting task. Attending to sound elements in an AV stream reduced both pre-stimulus and stimulus-evoked spiking activity, primarily in deep-layer neurons and neurons without spectrotemporal tuning. Despite reduced spiking, stimulus decoder accuracy was preserved, suggesting improved sound encoding efficiency. Similarly, task-irrelevant mapping stimuli during inter-trial intervals evoked fewer spikes without impairing stimulus encoding, indicating that attentional modulation generalized beyond training stimuli. Importantly, spiking reductions predicted trial-to-trial behavioral accuracy during auditory attention, but not visual attention. Together, these findings suggest auditory attention facilitates sound discrimination by filtering sound-irrelevant background activity in AC, and that the deepest cortical layers serve as a hub for integrating extramodal contextual information.

The cerebellum (CB) and basal ganglia (BG) each have topographically distinct functional subregions that are functionally and anatomically interconnected with cortical regions through discrete thalamic loops and with each other via disynaptic connections, with previous work detailing high levels of functional connectivity between these phylogenetically ancient regions. It was posited that this CB-BG network provides support for cortical systems processing, spanning cognitive, emotional, and motor domains, implying subcortical network measures are strongly related to cortical network measures (Bostan & Strick, 2018); however, it is currently unknown how network measures within distinct CB-BG networks relate to cortical network measures. Here, 122 regions of interest comprising cognitive and motor CB-BG networks and 7 canonical cortical resting-state were used to investigate whether the integration (quantified using global efficiency, GE) of cognitive CB-BG network (CCBN) nodes and their segregation from motor CB-BG network (MCBN) nodes is related to cortical network GE and segregation in 233 non-related, right- handed participants (Human Connectome Project-1200). CCBN GE positively correlated with GE in the default mode, motor, and auditory networks and MCBN GE positively correlated with GE in all networks except the default mode and emotional. MCBN segregation was related to MN segregation. These findings highlight the CB-BG network’s role in executive function, task switching, and verbal working memory. This work has implications for understanding cortical network organization and cortical-subcortical interactions in healthy adults and may help in deciphering subcortical differences seen in disease states.

The present study evaluated the hypothesis that the strength of the relationship between executive function (EF) and repetitive behaviors and restricted interests (RBRI) symptomatology is moderated by the degree to which concurrent demands are placed on multiple aspects of EF. An eye movement task was used to evaluate inhibition and task switching ability (both together and in isolation) in a sample of 22 children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The Repetitive Behavior Scale-Revised (RBS-R) was used to assess the severity of RBRI symptoms. Results provide preliminary support for the aforementioned hypothesis. RBS-R scores were significantly correlated with task performance when simultaneous demands were placed on switching and inhibition; however, no such relationship was found for inhibition-only or switching-only task conditions.

Human behaviour amazes with extraordinary flexibility and the underlying neural mechanisms have often been studied using task switching. Despite extensive research, the relative importance of "cognitive" and "motor" aspects during switching is unclear. In the current study we examine this question combining EEG analysis techniques and source localization to examine whether the selection of the response, or processes during the execution of the response, contribute most to switching effects. A clear dissociation was observed in the signal decomposition, since codes relating to motor aspects play a significant role in task switching and the scope of the switching costs. This was not the case for signals that denote reaction selection or decision processes that respond to selection or basic stimulus processing codes. On a functional neuroanatomical level, these modulations in motor processes showed a clear temporal sequence in that motor codes are processed primarily in superior parietal regions (Brodman area 7) and only then in premotor regions (Brodman area 6). The observed modulations may reflect motor reprogramming processes. The study shows how EEG signal analysis in combination with brain mapping methods can inform debates on theories of human cognitive flexibility.

Both humans and pigeons are highly adept at task switching. However, unlike humans, pigeons do not show measurable switch costs: decreased accuracy and/or increased response times when required to switch tasks on successive trials. This striking disparity suggests that humans and pigeons may succeed at task switching via different means: humans may rely on a combination of executive control and associative learning, whereas pigeons may rely solely on associative learning. Here, we further explored the limits of pigeons' associative learning in an expanded task-switching paradigm. We trained pigeons to switch among four tasks, each signaled by two redundant types of task cues. The pigeons benefited from the availability of both task cues despite their redundancy: their accuracies were higher when both cues were available than when only a single cue was available. Additionally, we assessed the possibility that the lack of switch costs reported in the pigeon literature might stem from methodological discrepancies between pigeon and human task-switching paradigms. Across experimental phases, we modified pigeons' trial structures to more closely mimic those typically used in human task-switching research. Despite these modifications, pigeons did not display switch costs, consistent with their sole reliance on associative learning. Overall, our data highlight the power and flexibility inherent in the pigeon's associative learning system. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

The study investigates how working memory affects students' control of attention. A quasi-experimental research is conducted individually on 52 undergraduates of a public university in Malaysia, enrolled in various full-time undergraduate programmes, using Sternberg memory task and Task-switching tests. The reaction time is taken in milliseconds (ms) to differentiate the results for both tasks. The analysis revealed that when memory load was increased, reaction time also escalated. In the task-switching test, when one task was given at any one time, the reaction time was swift; however, when two or more tasks were integrated into one task, the reaction time would subsequently decelerated. Although the study also revealed that there is no significant difference between genders in terms of handling memory load and task-switching. However, a significant relationship was observed in performances between memory load and task-switching. It is also evidenced in the study that when memory load increases, it compounds the reaction time for task-switching. Results from the study inform course instructors to be aware of cognitive load when chunking information and assigning tasks to students, as their decisions on content quantity bore an effect on what would be remembered when students learn.

OBJECTIVE Shift work has been proposed to disturb alertness and decrease cognitive efficiency. However, studies so far have had varied findings. The aim of the present study was to compare cognitive function following shifts at different times of the day in an Australian ED context. METHODS A prospective, self-controlled observational study was conducted on medical and nursing staff at a tertiary referral centre and regional hospital ED. Participants were required to complete the Trail Making Test (TMT), a neurocognitive test consisting of two parts (TMT-A and TMT-B), at baseline (at the start of the day) and at the end of their shift (day, evening or night). Related samples Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used to compare post-shift TMT performance to baseline in medical and nursing staff. RESULTS Over a 5-month period, 140 ED staff were recruited including 109 doctors and 31 nurses. After a night shift, medical staff (n = 85) and nursing staff (n = 29) took longer to complete the TMT-B by 3.4 s (P

The prevalence of media multitasking - the concurrent use of multiple forms of media - has motivated research on whether and how it is related to various cognitive abilities, such as the ability to switch tasks. However, previous research on the relationship between media multitasking and task-switching performance has yielded mixed results, possibly because of small sample sizes and a confound between task and cue transitions that resulted in switch costs being impure measures of task-switching ability. The authors conducted a large-sample study in which media multitasking behavior was surveyed and task-switching performance was assessed using two cues per task, thereby allowing switch costs to be partitioned into task-switching and cue-repetition effects. The main finding was no evidence of any relationship between media multitasking scores and task-switching effects (or cue-repetition effects), either in correlational analyses or in extreme group analyses of light and heavy media multitaskers. The results are discussed in the context of previous research, with implications for studying media multitasking in relation to task-switching performance.

Previous studies have shown that the probability of task switching can vary the level of cognitive control and modulate the size of switch costs. However, it is unclear whether switch costs would be affected by a task-repetition context formed by varying the degree of response (and task-relevant stimulus property) change within the task repetition sequences while the probability of task switching remains constant. In the present study, participants were presented with a string of digits (e.g., ②②②). Basing on stimulus color, they were required to indicate either the presented digit, or the number of presented digits. Before task switching, stimulus and response in consecutive task-repeat trials varied more or less frequently. Behavioral results showed that the frequent-change context elicited smaller switch costs than the rare-change context. Event-related potential (ERP) results indicated that: (1) the frequent-change context evoked greater fronto-central N2 amplitudes for both task-repeat and task-switch trials, implying that cognitive control increased due to the variation of stimulus and response associations; (2) for the task switch trials, smaller P300 amplitudes were evoked in the frequent-change context than the rare-change context, reflecting the promoted task-set reconfiguration. These findings suggest that, the more change in stimulus and response during task repetition, the higher the overall level of cognitive control and the higher efficiency of task-switching.