Summary
Task switching involves processing target stimuli in accordance with a frequently changing series of tasks. An outstanding issue is whether this processing is tailored to the perceptual or categorical representation of targets. To address this issue, the authors compared switch costs in responding to targets that were perceptually distinct (words and images) but associated with the same categories (colors and shapes). In four experiments that varied the degree to which words and images were mixed together, no differences in switch costs were observed. These results support the idea that categorical target representations are central to task switching.
Task switching involves processing target stimuli in accordance with a frequently changing series of tasks. An outstanding issue is whether this processing is tailored to the perceptual or categorical representation of targets. To address this issue, the authors compared switch costs in responding to targets that were perceptually distinct (words and images) but associated with the same categories (colors and shapes). In four experiments that varied the degree to which words and images were mixed together, no differences in switch costs were observed. These results support the idea that categorical target representations are central to task switching.See the full content of this document
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The Target of Task Switching
Task switching involves processing target stimuli in accordance with a frequently changing series of tasks. How this feat is accomplished is a matter of debate, but there are models of task switching (e.g., Altmann & Gray, 2008; Gilbert & Shallice, 2002; Meiran, Kessler, & Adi-Japha, 2008; Schneider & Logan, 2005, 2009; Sohn & Anderson, 2001) that specify not only how task switching occurs, but also how tasks are performed (i.e., how targets are processed to generate responses).
An important issue concerns the level at which targets should be represented in a model. In this article we distinguish between two levels of representation: perceptual and categorical. A perceptual representation is one in which the model codes for the perceptual attributes of the target. For example, the perceptual representation of a colored shape target would be coded in terms of chromatic and geometric properties. A categorical representation is one in whic...See the full content of this document
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