You can't always get what you want: The influence of unexpected task constraint on voluntary task switching

Abstract

The current study assessed the effect that unexpected task constraint, following self-generated task choice, has on task switching performance. Participants performed a modified double-registration voluntary task switching procedure in which participants specified the task they wanted to perform, were presented with a cue that, on the majority of trials, confirmed the choice, and then performed the cued task. On a small portion of trials, participants were cued to perform a task that did not match their choice. Trials on which cues unexpectedly failed to match the chosen task were associated with costs. These costs were particularly large when participants chose to switch tasks but had to unexpectedly repeat the previous task. The results suggest that when participants choose to switch tasks, they prepare for that switch in anticipation of the stimulus, and the preparation is durable such that it cannot be readily undone.

Keywords:

• Task switching
• Voluntary task switching
• Task preparation

Notes

¹ Switch costs can be artificially inflated by trials on which both the stimulus and response repeat (Hübner et al., 2004). To protect against this possibility an additional analysis was conducted in which all stimulus–response repetitions were removed. Within this analysis, the main effect of validity remained significant. The significance of the interaction became marginal, p = .05.

² Removing stimulus-repetition trials did not change the significance levels of any of the reported effects.

³ We thank Eric Ruthruff for this suggestion.