Benefits of repeated alternations – Task-specific vs. task-general sequential adjustments of dual-task order control
An important cognitive requirement in multitasking is the decision of how multiple tasks should be temporally scheduled (task order control). Specifically, task order switches (vs. repetitions) yield performance costs (i.e., task-order switch costs), suggesting that task order scheduling is a vital...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2023-06-01
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| Series: | Acta Psychologica |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691823000975 |
| _version_ | 1827944383380455424 |
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| author | Tilo Strobach Jens Kürten Lynn Huestegge |
| author_facet | Tilo Strobach Jens Kürten Lynn Huestegge |
| author_sort | Tilo Strobach |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | An important cognitive requirement in multitasking is the decision of how multiple tasks should be temporally scheduled (task order control). Specifically, task order switches (vs. repetitions) yield performance costs (i.e., task-order switch costs), suggesting that task order scheduling is a vital part of configuring a task set. Recently, it has been shown that this process takes specific task-related characteristics into account: task order switches were easier when switching to a preferred (vs. non-preferred) task order. Here, we ask whether another determinant of task order control, namely the phenomenon that a task order switch in a previous trial facilitates a task order switch in a current trial (i.e., a sequential modulation of task order switch effect) also takes task-specific characteristics into account. Based on three experiments involving task order switches between a preferred (dominant oculomotor task prior to non-dominant manual/pedal task) and a non-preferred (vice versa) order, we replicated the finding that task order switching (in Trial N) is facilitated after a previous switch (vs. repetition in Trial N - 1) in task order. There was no substantial evidence in favor of a significant difference when switching to the preferred vs. non-preferred order and in the analyses of the dominant oculomotor task and the non-dominant manual task. This indicates different mechanisms underlying the control of immediate task order configuration (indexed by task order switch costs) and the sequential modulation of these costs based on the task order transition type in the previous trial. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T10:29:29Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f1e83f302e344d82977734892e47a18d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0001-6918 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T10:29:29Z |
| publishDate | 2023-06-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Acta Psychologica |
| spelling | doaj.art-f1e83f302e344d82977734892e47a18d2023-05-19T04:44:46ZengElsevierActa Psychologica0001-69182023-06-01236103921Benefits of repeated alternations – Task-specific vs. task-general sequential adjustments of dual-task order controlTilo Strobach0Jens Kürten1Lynn Huestegge2MSH Medical School Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany; Correspondence to: MSH Medical School Hamburg, Department Psychology, Am Kaiserkai 1, 20457 Hamburg, Germany.University of Würzburg, Würzburg, GermanyUniversity of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany; Corresponding author.An important cognitive requirement in multitasking is the decision of how multiple tasks should be temporally scheduled (task order control). Specifically, task order switches (vs. repetitions) yield performance costs (i.e., task-order switch costs), suggesting that task order scheduling is a vital part of configuring a task set. Recently, it has been shown that this process takes specific task-related characteristics into account: task order switches were easier when switching to a preferred (vs. non-preferred) task order. Here, we ask whether another determinant of task order control, namely the phenomenon that a task order switch in a previous trial facilitates a task order switch in a current trial (i.e., a sequential modulation of task order switch effect) also takes task-specific characteristics into account. Based on three experiments involving task order switches between a preferred (dominant oculomotor task prior to non-dominant manual/pedal task) and a non-preferred (vice versa) order, we replicated the finding that task order switching (in Trial N) is facilitated after a previous switch (vs. repetition in Trial N - 1) in task order. There was no substantial evidence in favor of a significant difference when switching to the preferred vs. non-preferred order and in the analyses of the dominant oculomotor task and the non-dominant manual task. This indicates different mechanisms underlying the control of immediate task order configuration (indexed by task order switch costs) and the sequential modulation of these costs based on the task order transition type in the previous trial.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691823000975Dual taskingTask coordinationTask controlTask-order controlAdjustment |
| spellingShingle | Tilo Strobach Jens Kürten Lynn Huestegge Benefits of repeated alternations – Task-specific vs. task-general sequential adjustments of dual-task order control Acta Psychologica Dual tasking Task coordination Task control Task-order control Adjustment |
| title | Benefits of repeated alternations – Task-specific vs. task-general sequential adjustments of dual-task order control |
| title_full | Benefits of repeated alternations – Task-specific vs. task-general sequential adjustments of dual-task order control |
| title_fullStr | Benefits of repeated alternations – Task-specific vs. task-general sequential adjustments of dual-task order control |
| title_full_unstemmed | Benefits of repeated alternations – Task-specific vs. task-general sequential adjustments of dual-task order control |
| title_short | Benefits of repeated alternations – Task-specific vs. task-general sequential adjustments of dual-task order control |
| title_sort | benefits of repeated alternations task specific vs task general sequential adjustments of dual task order control |
| topic | Dual tasking Task coordination Task control Task-order control Adjustment |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691823000975 |
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