ERIC Number: EJ1322207
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021-Oct
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0278-7393
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Errors in Task Switching: Investigating Error Aftereffects in a N-2 Repetition Cost Paradigm
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, v47 n10 p1720-1737 Oct 2021
Studies of switching between tasks and studies of error commission have both provided solid behavioral measures of executive control. Nonetheless, a gap remains between these strands of research. In three experiments we sought to reduce this gap by assessing the impact of task errors on N-2 repetition costs, an effect supposedly related to task-set inhibition. Based on previous literature reporting a task-switch benefit following task errors, due to incidental learning of the erroneously executed task-set, we predicted N-2 repetition costs to be decreased after task errors in Trial N-2, relative to correct responses. Furthermore, we predicted this effect to be present only when corrective control mechanisms would not have the time to build up on the post-error trial (i.e., following fast post-error trial only). This hypothesis was tested in a three-tasks paradigm using incongruent stimuli, under the assumption that errors on such trials are partly due to task confusions. Consistent with our predictions, N-2 repetition costs following N-2 errors were found to be reduced when responses in Trial N-1 were fast but were present when the N-1 response was slow. Taken together, our results suggest that task execution leads to associative strengthening of the corresponding task-set, irrespective of response accuracy, and that such automatic strengthening can be counteracted by slowly acting control mechanisms.
Descriptors: Task Analysis, Error Patterns, Cognitive Ability, Attention Control, Responses, Prediction, Correlation, Executive Function, Error Correction, Stimuli, Inhibition, Foreign Countries
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Germany
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Data File: URL: https://osf.io/jnuwx/
Author Affiliations: N/A