scholarly journals The Effect of Episodic Retrieval on Inhibition in Task Switching

Author(s):  
James A. Grange ◽  
Agnieszka W Kowalczyk ◽  
Rory O'Loughlin
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jim Grange ◽  
Agnieszka Kowalczyk

Inhibition in task switching is inferred from n–2 task repetition costs: responses areslower and less accurate to ABA task switching sequences than CBA sequences, thought to reflect the persisting inhibition of task A in an ABA sequence which hampers re-activation attempts. Despite the inhibitory deficit hypothesis of age-related decline in cognition, studies have found no consistent age-related difference in n–2 task repetition costs. Recent work has shown that extant measures of the n–2 task repetition cost are contaminated with episodic retrieval effects, which inflate estimates of inhibition. The current study revisited potential age-related differences in n–2 task repetition costs in a design that controls for episodic interference. We find equivalent n–2 task repetition costs in older and younger adults in response times, which provides converging evidence of no age-related decline of inhibition in task switching.


2019 ◽  
Vol 192 ◽  
pp. 59-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
James A. Grange ◽  
Paula Kedra ◽  
Alison Walker

2019 ◽  
Vol 84 (7) ◽  
pp. 1965-1999
Author(s):  
Agnieszka W. Kowalczyk ◽  
James A. Grange

Abstract Inhibition in task switching is inferred from $$n-2$$ n - 2 task repetition costs: slower response times and poorer accuracy for ABA task switching sequences compared to CBA sequences, thought to reflect the persisting inhibition of task A across an ABA sequence. Much work has examined the locus of this inhibition effect, with evidence that inhibition targets response selection processes. Consistent with this, fits of the diffusion model to $$n-2$$ n - 2 task repetition cost data have shown that the cost is reflected by lower estimates of drift rate, suggesting that inhibition impairs information processing efficiency during response selection. However, we have shown that the $$n-2$$ n - 2 task repetition cost is confounded with episodic retrieval effects which masquerade as inhibitory costs. The purpose of the current study was to conduct a comprehensive analysis of diffusion model fits to new data within a paradigm that controls for episodic interference. Across four experiments (total $$N = 191$$ N = 191 ), we find evidence that the reduction of drift rate for $$n-2$$ n - 2 task repetition costs is only evident under conditions of episodic interference, and the cost is absent when this interference is controlled for. In addition, we also find evidence that episodic retrieval influences task preparation processes and response caution. These findings provide important constraints for theories of task switching that suggest inhibition selectively targets response selection processes.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Kowalczyk ◽  
Jim Grange

Inhibition in task switching is inferred from n–2 task repetition costs: Slower response times and poorer accuracy for ABA task switching sequences compared to CBA sequences, thought to reflect the persisting inhibition of task A across an ABA sequence. Much work has examined the locus of this inhibition effect, with evidence that inhibition targets response-selection processes. Consistent with this, fits of the diffusion model to n–2 task repetition cost data have shown that the cost is reflected by lower estimates of drift rate, suggesting that inhibition impairs information processing efficiency during response selection. However, we have shown that the n–2 task repetition cost is confounded with episodic retrieval effects which masquerade as inhibitory costs. The purpose of the current study was to conduct a comprehensive analysis of diffusion model fits to new data within a paradigm that controls for episodic interference. Across 4 experiments (total N = 191) we find evidence that the reduction of drift rate for n–2 task repetition costs is only evident under conditions of episodic interference, and the cost is absent when this interference is controlled for. In addition, we also find evidence that episodic retrieval influences task preparation processes and response caution. These findings provide important constraints for theories of task switching that suggest inhibition selectively targets response selection processes


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jim Grange ◽  
Paula Kedra ◽  
Alison Stephanie Walker

Previous work has shown that extended practice leads to a reduction in a key measure of cognitive inhibition during task switching: The n–2 task repetition cost. However, it has been demonstrated that this n–2 task repetition cost is increased by a non-inhibitory process—namely episodic retrieval—raising the question of whether the observed reduction of the cost with practice is driven by a reduction in inhibition, episodic retrieval effects, or a combination of both. The current study addresses this question by utilising a practice protocol using a task switching paradigm capable of controlling for episodic retrieval. The results showed a reduction in the n–2 task repetition cost with extended practice. The results also showed a clear increase of the n–2 task repetition cost due to episodic retrieval effects. The reduction of the cost with practice was driven by a reduction in inhibition and episodic retrieval contributions to the cost with practice, although there was a larger reduction in the episodic retrieval contribution with practice. The results are discussed with reference to current theoretical models of inhibition in task switching, which need to accommodate episodic retrieval and practice effects.


2017 ◽  
Vol 43 (8) ◽  
pp. 1568-1583 ◽  
Author(s):  
James A. Grange ◽  
Agnieszka W. Kowalczyk ◽  
Rory O'Loughlin

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
James A. Grange

Rumination is typically defined as the perseverative focus of attention on negative internal thoughts and feelings, which can increase the risk of developing—and severity once developed—of depression. It is thought the perseveration is caused by a deficit in inhibitory control in ruminators. Congruent with this hypothesis, estimates of inhibition in task switching—the n–2 task repetition cost—are negatively associated with estimates of rumination. However, estimates of individual differences of n–2 task repetition costs are hampered by (a) measurement error caused by trial-wise variation in performance, and (b) recent evidence suggesting much of the n–2 task repetition cost measures interference in episodic memory, not inhibition. The aim of the current study is to revisit the question of the association between the n–2 task repetition cost and measures of rumination by (a) statistically accounting for measurement error by estimating n–2 task repetition costs via trial-level Bayesian multilevel modelling, and (b) controlling for episodic interference effects on estimates of n–2 task repetition cost by utilising a paradigm capable of doing so. Together, these methodological and statistical improvements will provide a clearer estimate of the association between inhibition and rumination.


2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 106-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zsófia Anna Gaál ◽  
István Czigler

Abstract. We used task-switching (TS) paradigms to study how cognitive training can compensate age-related cognitive decline. Thirty-nine young (age span: 18–25 years) and 40 older (age span: 60–75 years) women were assigned to training and control groups. The training group received 8 one-hour long cognitive training sessions in which the difficulty level of TS was individually adjusted. The other half of the sample did not receive any intervention. The reference task was an informatively cued TS paradigm with nogo stimuli. Performance was measured on reference, near-transfer, and far-transfer tasks by behavioral indicators and event-related potentials (ERPs) before training, 1 month after pretraining, and in case of older adults, 1 year later. The results showed that young adults had better pretraining performance. The reference task was too difficult for older adults to form appropriate representations as indicated by the behavioral data and the lack of P3b components. But after training older adults reached the level of performance of young participants, and accordingly, P3b emerged after both the cue and the target. Training gain was observed also in near-transfer tasks, and partly in far-transfer tasks; working memory and executive functions did not improve, but we found improvement in alerting and orienting networks, and in the execution of variants of TS paradigms. Behavioral and ERP changes remained preserved even after 1 year. These findings suggest that with an appropriate training procedure older adults can reach the level of performance seen in young adults and these changes persist for a long period. The training also affects the unpracticed tasks, but the transfer depends on the extent of task similarities.


2006 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 186-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanne Mayr ◽  
Michael Niedeggen ◽  
Axel Buchner ◽  
Guido Orgs

Responding to a stimulus that had to be ignored previously is usually slowed-down (negative priming effect). This study investigates the reaction time and ERP effects of the negative priming phenomenon in the auditory domain. Thirty participants had to categorize sounds as musical instruments or animal voices. Reaction times were slowed-down in the negative priming condition relative to two control conditions. This effect was stronger for slow reactions (above intraindividual median) than for fast reactions (below intraindividual median). ERP analysis revealed a parietally located negativity of the negative priming condition compared to the control conditions between 550-730 ms poststimulus. This replicates the findings of Mayr, Niedeggen, Buchner, and Pietrowsky (2003) . The ERP correlate was more pronounced for slow trials (above intraindividual median) than for fast trials (below intraindividual median). The dependency of the negative priming effect size on the reaction time level found in the reaction time analysis as well as in the ERP analysis is consistent with both the inhibition as well as the episodic retrieval account of negative priming. A methodological artifact explanation of this effect-size dependency is discussed and discarded.


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