scholarly journals Modality compatibility in task switching depends on processing codes and task demands

Author(s):  
Erik Friedgen ◽  
Iring Koch ◽  
Denise Nadine Stephan

Abstract Modality compatibility denotes the match between sensory stimulus modality and the sensory modality of the anticipated response effect (for example, vocal responses usually lead to auditory effects, so that auditory–vocal stimulus–response mappings are modality-compatible, whereas visual–vocal mappings are modality incompatible). In task switching studies, it has been found that switching between two modality-incompatible mappings (auditory-manual and visual–vocal) resulted in higher switch costs than switching between two modality-compatible mappings (auditory–vocal and visual-manual). This finding suggests that with modality-incompatible mappings, the anticipation of the effect of each response primes the stimulus modality linked to the competing task, creating task confusion. In Experiment 1, we examined whether modality-compatibility effects in task switching are increased by strengthening the auditory–vocal coupling using spatial-verbal stimuli relative to spatial-location stimuli. In Experiment 2, we aimed at achieving the same goal by requiring temporal stimulus discrimination relative to spatial stimulus localisation. Results suggest that both spatial-verbal stimuli and temporal discrimination can increase modality-specific task interference through a variation of the strength of anticipation in the response-effect coupling. This provides further support for modality specificity of cognitive control processes in task switching.

2018 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
pp. 955-965 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edina Fintor ◽  
Denise N Stephan ◽  
Iring Koch

Two experiments examined the influence of preparation on modality compatibility effects in task switching. The term modality compatibility refers to the similarity between the stimulus modality and the modality of response-related sensory consequences. Previous research showed evidence for modality compatibility benefits in task switching when participants switched either between two modality compatible tasks (auditory-vocal and visual-manual) or between two modality incompatible tasks (auditory-manual and visual-vocal). In this study, we investigated the influence of active preparation on modality compatibility effects in task switching. To this end, in Experiment 1, we introduced unimodal modality cues, whereas in Experiment 2, bimodal abstract cues were used. In both experiments, the cue-stimulus interval (CSI) was manipulated while holding the response-stimulus interval (RSI) constant. In both experiments, we found not only decreased switch costs with long CSI but also the elimination of the residual switch costs. More importantly, this preparation effect did not modulate the modality compatibility effect in task switching. To account for this data pattern, we assume that cue-based preparation of switches by modality mappings was highly effective and produced no residual reaction time (RT) costs with long CSI.


2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denise Nadine Stephan ◽  
Iring Koch ◽  
Jessica Hendler ◽  
Lynn Huestegge

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 1931-1945 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex I Wiesman ◽  
Tony W Wilson

Abstract Conflicts at various stages of cognition can cause interference effects on behavior. Two well-studied forms of cognitive interference are stimulus–stimulus (e.g., Flanker), where the conflict arises from incongruence between the task-relevant stimulus and simultaneously presented irrelevant stimulus information, and stimulus-response (e.g., Simon), where interference is the result of an incompatibility between the spatial location of the task-relevant stimulus and a prepotent motor mapping of the expected response. Despite substantial interest in the neural and behavioral underpinnings of cognitive interference, it remains uncertain how differing sources of cognitive conflict might interact, and the spectrally specific neural dynamics that index this phenomenon are poorly understood. Herein, we used an adapted version of the multisource interference task and magnetoencephalography to investigate the spectral, temporal, and spatial dynamics of conflict processing in healthy adults (N = 23). We found a double-dissociation such that, in isolation, stimulus–stimulus interference was indexed by alpha (8–14 Hz), but not gamma-frequency (64–76 Hz) oscillations in the lateral occipital regions, while stimulus–response interference was indexed by gamma oscillations in nearby cortices, but not by alpha oscillations. Surprisingly, we also observed a superadditive effect of simultaneously presented interference types (multisource) on task performance and gamma oscillations in superior parietal cortex.


2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (0) ◽  
pp. 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brenda Malcolm ◽  
Karen Reilly ◽  
Jérémie Mattout ◽  
Roméo Salemme ◽  
Olivier Bertrand ◽  
...  

Our ability to accurately discriminate information from one sensory modality is often influenced by information from the other senses. Previous research indicates that tactile perception on the hand may be enhanced if participants look at a hand (compared to a neutral object) and if visual information about the origin of touch conveys temporal and/or spatial congruency. The current experiment further assessed the effects of non-informative vision on tactile perception. Participants made speeded discrimination responses (digit 2 or digit 5 of their right hand) to supra-threshold electro-cutaneous stimulation while viewing a video showing a pointer, in a static position or moving (dynamic), towards the same or different digit of a hand or to the corresponding spatial location on a non-corporeal object (engine). Therefore, besides manipulating whether a visual contact was spatially congruent to the simultaneously felt touch, we also manipulated the nature of the recipient object (hand vs. engine). Behaviourally, the temporal cues provided by the dynamic visual information about an upcoming touch decreased reaction times. Additionally, a greater enhancement in tactile discrimination was present when participants viewed a spatially congruent contact compared to a spatially incongruent contact. Most importantly, this visually driven improvement was greater for the view-hand condition compared to the view-object condition. Spatially-congruent, hand-specific visual events also produced the greatest amplitude in the P50 somatosensory evoked potential (SEP). We conclude that tactile perception is enhanced when vision provides non-predictive spatio-temporal cues and that these effects are specifically enhanced when viewing a hand.


1994 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
pp. 1281-1284 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. J. Crammond ◽  
J. F. Kalaska

1. Neuronal activity was recorded in the dorsal premotor cortex (PMd) of two monkeys performing a multidirectional, instructed-delay (ID) reaching task in which visuospatial cues signaled the direction of movement either congruent with the instruction cue ("direct-delay" trials, DD) or redirected 180 degrees opposite to the cue ("redirected-delay" trials, RD). Therefore, this task had two degrees of stimulus-response (S-R) compatibility because in one-half of the trials the spatial attributes of the visual cue were incongruent with those of the intended movement. 2. The majority of PMd cells discharged both at short latency to the RD or DD cues and subsequently with sustained activity during the remaining ID period (IDP). The earliest responses (< 250 ms) in both DD and RD trials covaried with cue location and so could be either a "visuospatial" response or a neuronal correlate of the selection of action with highest S-R compatibility, namely move to the stimulus. In contrast, later IDP activity usually covaried with the direction of movement signaled by the cues, independent of their spatial location, supporting the hypothesis that IDP discharge in PMd ultimately encodes attributes of intended reaching movements.


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