Investigating the impact of dynamic and static secondary tasks on task-switch cost.

Many researchers have employed secondary tasks, which have to be performed in parallel with a primary task requirement, to examine how successful task selection is accomplished in the context of task switching. The influence of such a secondary task on the observed switch cost (i.e., the cost arisin...

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Publicado en:Memory & Cognition Vol. 47; no. 2; pp. 240 - 257
Autores principales: Gade, Miriam, Friedrich, Karin, Koch, Iring
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Springer Nature Feb2019
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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        10.3758/s13421-018-0862-0
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        atl: Investigating the impact of dynamic and static secondary tasks on task-switch cost.
      aug:
        au:
          Gade, Miriam
          Friedrich, Karin
          Koch, Iring
        affil:
          Department of Psychology, Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Eichstätt, Germany
          Medical School Berlin, Berlin, Germany
          Schoen Kliniken, Vogatreuth, Germany
          Institute of Psychology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
      su:
        Cognition
        Memory
        Task performance
        Human multitasking
        Psychology of movement
        Reaction time
        Phonological awareness
      sug:
        subj:
          Cognition
          Memory
          Task performance
          Human multitasking
          Psychology of movement
          Reaction time
          Phonological awareness
      keyword:
        Episodic memory
        Secondary task
        Task switching
        Episodic memory
        Secondary task
        Task switching
      ab: Many researchers have employed secondary tasks, which have to be performed in parallel with a primary task requirement, to examine how successful task selection is accomplished in the context of task switching. The influence of such a secondary task on the observed switch cost (i.e., the cost arising when the currently relevant task differs from the task performed most recently) is seen as indicative that cognitive processes such as self-instruction are involved. Most secondary tasks chosen so far have required the repeated utterance of a word or syllable or a rhythmic movement of the foot. In the present study, we manipulated the dynamics of the to-be-performed secondary task (i.e., a repeated utterance or movement, or a static task that involved similar muscles—holding a spattle in the mouth or pressing keys). Additionally, we tested for modality-specific influences by asking participants to perform a dynamic or nondynamic (i.e., static) secondary task with two effector systems, namely oral and manual. Overall, our secondary tasks led to a reduced (rather than an increased) switch cost, as compared to a control condition without any secondary task. This reduction in switch cost was dependent on the secondary-task dynamics but independent of the effectors involved, showing larger switch-cost reductions for dynamic secondary tasks. To explain this finding, we suggest that performing secondary tasks interferes with the formation of episodic-memory traces that would lead to retrieval benefits in the case of a task repetition, so that our reduced task-switch costs actually represent reduced repetition benefits.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
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