scholarly journals Effects of stimulus features and instruction on response coding, selection, and inhibition: Evidence from repetition effects under task switching

2008 ◽  
Vol 61 (10) ◽  
pp. 1573-1600 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michel D. Druey ◽  
Ronald Hübner
Keyword(s):  
Task Switching ◽  
Response Selection ◽  
Middle Finger ◽  
Task Switch ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Repetition Effects ◽  
Stimulus Response ◽  
Stimulus Features ◽  
Feature Overlap ◽  
Response Coding

The coding of stimuli and responses is crucial for human behaviour. Here, we focused primarily on the response codes (or response categories). As a method, we applied a combined dual-task and task-switch paradigm with a fixed task-to-hand mapping. Usually, negative effects (i.e., costs) are observed for response category repetitions under task switching. However, in several previous studies it has been proposed that such repetition effects do not occur, if the stimulus categories (e.g., “odd” if digits have to be classified according to their parity feature) are unequivocally mapped to specific responses. Our aim was to test this hypothesis. In the present experiments, we were able to distinguish between three different types of possible response codes. The results show that the participants generally code their responses according to abstract response features (left/right, or index/middle finger). Moreover, the spatial codes were preferred over the finger-type codes even if the instructions stressed the latter. This preference, though, seemed to result from a stimulus–response feature overlap, so that the spatial response categories were primed by the respective stimulus features. If there was no such overlap, the instructions determined which type of response code was involved in response selection and inhibition.

Auditory Warning Signals Affect Mechanisms of Response Selection

2010 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 89-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rico Fischer ◽  
Franziska Plessow ◽  
Andrea Kiesel
Keyword(s):  
Selective Attention ◽  
Response Selection ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Relevant Stimulus ◽  
Attention Task ◽  
Stimulus Response ◽  
Spatial Stimulus ◽  
Direct Route ◽  
Stimulus Features ◽  
Indirect Route

Irrelevant tone (accessory) stimuli facilitate performance in simple and choice reaction time tasks. In the present study, we combined accessory stimulation with a selective attention paradigm in order to investigate its influence on mechanisms of response selection. In the framework of a spatial stimulus-response compatibility task (Simon task), we tested whether accessory stimuli selectively affect bottom up triggered response activation processes (e.g., direct route processing), processing of task-relevant stimulus features (indirect route processing), or both/none. Results suggest a two-component effect of accessory stimuli within this selective attention task. First, accessory stimuli increased the Simon effect due to beneficial direct route processing. Second, accessory stimuli generally decreased reaction times indicating facilitation of indirect route processing.

Hierarchical Task Representation

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 449-454 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric H. Schumacher ◽  
Eliot Hazeltine
Keyword(s):  
Human Behavior ◽  
Experimental Research ◽  
Response Selection ◽  
Action Selection ◽  
Task Representation ◽  
Alternative Framework ◽  
Stimulus Response ◽  
Discrete Responses ◽  
Multiple Levels ◽  
Stimulus Features

Human behavior is remarkably complex—even during the performance of relatively simple tasks—yet it is often assumed that learned associations between stimuli and responses provide the representational substrate for action selection. Here, we introduce an alternative framework, called a task file, that includes hierarchical associations between stimulus features, response features, goals, and drives, which may overcome the limitations inherent in the conceptualization of response selection as being based solely on associations between stimuli and responses. We then review evidence from our own experimental research showing that even in the context of performing relatively easy tasks, the stimulus-response-association approach to response selection is inadequate to account for the interactions between discrete responses. Instead, response selection may emerge from competition between linked representations at multiple levels.

scholarly journals Task Switching and Novelty Processing Activate a Common Neural Network for Cognitive Control

2006 ◽  
Vol 18 (10) ◽  
pp. 1734-1748 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Barcelo ◽  
Carles Escera ◽  
Maria J. Corral ◽  
Jose A. Periáñez
Keyword(s):  
Neural Network ◽  
Task Switching ◽  
Response Selection ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Task Switch ◽  
Task Condition ◽  
Novelty P3 ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
And Task

The abrupt onset of a novel event captures attention away from, and disrupts, ongoing task performance. Less obvious is that intentional task switching compares with novelty-induced behavioral distraction. Here we explore the hypothesis that intentional task switching and attentional capture by a novel distracter both activate a common neural network involved in processing contextual novelty [Barcelo, F., Periáñez, J. A., & Knight, R. T. Think differently: A brain orienting response to task novelty. NeuroReport, 13, 1887–1892, 2002.]. Event-related potentials were recorded in two task-cueing paradigms while 16 subjects sorted cards following either two (color or shape; two-task condition) or three (color, shape, or number; three-task condition) rules of action. Each card was preceded by a familiar tone cueing the subject either to switch or to repeat the previous rule. Novel sound distracters were interspersed in one of two blocks of trials in each condition. Both novel sounds and task-switch cues impaired responses to the following visual target. Novel sounds elicited novelty P3 potentials with their usual peak latency and frontal-central scalp distribution. Familiar tonal switch cues in the three- and two-task conditions elicited brain potentials with a similar latency and morphology as the novelty P3, but with relatively smaller amplitudes over frontal scalp regions. Covariance and principal component analyses revealed a sustained frontal negative potential that was distorting concurrent novelty P3 activity to the tonal switch cues. When this frontal negativity was statistically removed, P3 potentials to novel sounds and task-switch cues showed similar scalp topographies. The degree of activation in the novelty P3 network seemed to be a function of the information (entropy) conveyed by the eliciting stimulus for response selection, over and above its relative novelty, probability of occurrence, task relevance, or feedback value. We conclude that novelty P3 reflects transient activation in a neural network involved in updating task set information for goal-directed action selection and might thus constitute one key element in a central bottleneck for attentional control.

scholarly journals A low-level perceptual correlate of behavioral and clinical deficits in ADHD

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andra Mihali ◽  
Allison G Young ◽  
Lenard A. Adler ◽  
Michael M. Halassa ◽  
Wei Ji Ma
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Response Selection ◽  
Executive Processes ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Stimulus Response ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Trial Basis ◽  
Perceptual Variability ◽  
Stimulus Features ◽  
Task Irrelevant

AbstractIn many studies of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), stimulus encoding and processing (per-ceptual function) and response selection (executive function) have been intertwined. To dissociate deficits in these functions, we introduced a task that parametrically varied low-level stimulus features (orientation and color) for fine-grained analysis of perceptual function. It also required participants to switch their attention between feature dimensions on a trial-by-trial basis, thus taxing executive processes. Furthermore, we used a response paradigm that captured task-irrelevant motor output (TIMO), reflecting failures to use the correct stimulus-response rule. ADHD participants had substantially higher perceptual variability than Controls, especially for orientation, as well as higher TIMO. In both ADHD and Controls, TIMO was strongly affected by the switch manipulation. Across participants, the perceptual variability parameter was correlated with TIMO, suggesting that perceptual deficits are associated with executive function deficits. Based on perceptual variability alone, we were able to classify participants into ADHD and Controls with a mean accuracy of about 77%. Participants’ self-reported General Executive Composite score correlated not only with TIMO but also with the perceptual variability parameter. Our results highlight the role of perceptual deficits in ADHD and the usefulness of computational modeling of behavior in dissociating perceptual from executive processes.

scholarly journals Parsing the Flanker task to reveal behavioral and oscillatory correlates of unattended conflict interference

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcella Brunetti ◽  
Filippo Zappasodi ◽  
Pierpaolo Croce ◽  
Rosalia Di Matteo
Keyword(s):  
Response Selection ◽  
Flanker Task ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Oscillatory Activity ◽  
Activity Data ◽  
Intrinsic Nature ◽  
Conflict Processing ◽  
Stimulus Response ◽  
Stimulus Features ◽  
Stimulus Identification

Abstract Stimulus-Response conflict is generated by an overlap between stimulus and response dimensions, but the intrinsic nature of this interaction is not yet deeply clarified. In this study, using a modified Eriksen flanker task, we have investigated how flankers have to be incongruent to target in order to produce an interference and whether and how this interference interacts with the one produced by Stimulus features overlap. To these aims, an Eriksen-like task employing oriented hands\arrows has been designed to distinguish between two types of Stimulus-Response (S-R) interferences: one derived by a short-term association and one based on automatic processes. Stimulus-Stimulus (S-S) conflict has been also included in the same factorial design. Behavioral, Event Related Potential (ERP) and oscillatory activity data have been measured. Results revealed distinct S-S and automatic S-R effects on behavioral performance. ERP and Theta band power modulation results suggested an early frontal S-S conflict processing followed by a posterior simultaneous S-S and automatic S-R conflict processing. These findings provide evidence that, in presence of different conflicts, the sequence of stimulus identification and response selection could not move forward in a linear serial direction, but it may involve further effort, mirrored in posterior late components and response time prolongation.

A Review of the Role of Cue Processing in Task Switching

2013 ◽  
Vol 221 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerstin Jost ◽  
Wouter De Baene ◽  
Iring Koch ◽  
Marcel Brass
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Task Switching ◽  
Task Switch ◽  
Task Set ◽  
Switch Costs ◽  
Set Switching ◽  
Controversial Topic ◽  
Cue Encoding ◽  
Cue Processing

The role of cue processing has become a controversial topic in research on cognitive control using task-switching procedures. Some authors suggested a priming account to explain switch costs as a form of encoding benefit when the cue from the previous trial is repeated and hence challenged theories that attribute task-switch costs to task-set (re)configuration. A rich body of empirical evidence has evolved that indeed shows that cue-encoding repetition priming is an important component in task switching. However, these studies also demonstrate that there are usually substantial “true” task-switch costs. Here, we review this behavioral, electrophysiological, and brain imaging evidence. Moreover, we describe alternative approaches to the explicit task-cuing procedure, such as the usage of transition cues or the task-span procedure. In addition, we address issues related to the type of cue, such as cue transparency. We also discuss methodological and theoretical implications and argue that the explicit task-cuing procedure is suitable to address issues of cognitive control and task-set switching.

Current Task Activation Predicts General Effects of Advance Preparation in Task Switching

2006 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 260-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edita Poljac ◽  
Ab de Haan ◽  
Gerard P. van Galen
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Task Switching ◽  
Shape Matching ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Error Rates ◽  
Matching Task ◽  
Task Switch ◽  
Current Task ◽  
Within Subjects ◽  
And Task

Two experiments investigated the way that beforehand preparation influences general task execution in reaction-time matching tasks. Response times (RTs) and error rates were measured for switching and nonswitching conditions in a color- and shape-matching task. The task blocks could repeat (task repetition) or alternate (task switch), and the preparation interval (PI) was manipulated within-subjects (Experiment 1) and between-subjects (Experiment 2). The study illustrated a comparable general task performance after a long PI for both experiments, within and between PI manipulations. After a short PI, however, the general task performance increased significantly for the between-subjects manipulation of the PI. Furthermore, both experiments demonstrated an analogous preparation effect for both task switching and task repetitions. Next, a consistent switch cost throughout the whole run of trials and a within-run slowing effect were observed in both experiments. Altogether, the present study implies that the effects of the advance preparation go beyond the first trials and confirms different points of the activation approach ( Altmann, 2002) to task switching.

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