Humans are characterized by an especially highly developed ability to use instructions to prepare toward upcoming events; yet, it is unclear just how powerful instructions can be. Although prior work provides evidence that instructions can be sufficiently powerful to proactively program working memory to execute stimulus-response (S-R) translations, in a reflexlike fashion (intention-based reflexivity [IBR]), the results to date have been equivocal. To overcome this shortcoming, we developed, and tested in 4 studies, a novel paradigm (the NEXT paradigm) that isolates IBR effects even prior to first task execution. In each miniblock, participants received S-R mapping instructions for a new task. Prior to implementing this mapping, responses were required to advance through screens during a preparatory (NEXT) phase. When the NEXT response was incompatible with the instructed S-R mapping, interference (IBR effect) was observed. This NEXT compatibility effect and performance in the implementation (GO) trials barely changed when prior practice of a few trials was provided. Finally, a manipulation that encouraged preparation resulted in relatively durable NEXT compatibility effects (indicating durable preparatory efforts) coupled with improved GO performance (indicating the success of these efforts). Together, these findings establish IBR as a marker of instructed proactive control.

Reaction time task rule congruency effects (RT-TRCEs) reflect faster responses to stimuli for which the competing task rules indicate the same correct response than to stimuli indicating conflicting responses. The authors tested the hypothesis that RT-TRCE reflects activated overlearned response category codes in long-term memory (such as up or left). The results support the hypothesis by showing that (a) RT-TRCE was absent for tasks for which there were no response codes ready beforehand, (b) RT-TRCE was present after these tasks were practiced, and (c) these practice effects were found only if the tasks permitted forming abstract response category codes. The increase in the RT-TRCE with response slowness, found only for familiar tasks, suggests that the abstract response category codes may be verbal or linguistic in these cases. The results are discussed in relation to task-switching theories and prefrontal functions.Keywords: task switching, working memory, congruency, practice, prefrontal functions Working memory (WM) and task switching are two core executive functions. Their interrelationships have been studied by means of a variety of approaches. These include examinations of WM load effects on task-switching performance (Baddeley, Chincotta, & Adlam, 2001;Emerson & Miyake, 2003), comparing WM span for tasks with WM span of items (Logan, 2004), individual differences studies (e.g., Miyake et al., 2000), and cognitive theorizing (e.g., Logan & Gordon, 2001;Mayr & Kliegl, 2000;Sohn & Anderson, 2001). The present study suggests an as-of-yet unrecognized link between these two functions by focusing on a highly replicable but poorly understood phenomenon from the task-switching literature, the task rule congruency effect (TRCE). In the remainder of the introduction, we review the literature on the TRCE and suggest a WM account for it. The experiments reported in this article provide additional crucial evidence that support our account.Task Switching and the TRCE Researchers interested in task control often use the taskswitching paradigm. The rationale for this choice is straightforward. Performance in stable conditions without task switching can be done in an "automatic pilot" mode, with little need for active control. This luxury is unavailable when there are frequent task switches. Most of the research has concentrated on the various costs associated with task switching (Fagot, 1994;Jersild, 1927; Monsell & Driver, 2000). However, additional highly replicable effects have also been found, and understanding their basis is likely to shed light on how control is accomplished (cf. Altmann, 2003). In the present work, we concentrate on the TRCE. This effect is among the most reliable found in task-switching experiments, yet relatively little work has been done to unravel its causes.To the best of our knowledge, Sudevan and Taylor (1987) were the first to demonstrate the TRCE in the context of task switching. The participants in their experiments responded to single digits and switched between two classification t...

The authors show that the updating of working memory (WM) representations is carried out by the cooperative act of 2 dissociable reaction time (RT) components: a global updating process that provides stability by shielding WM contents against interference and a local process that provides flexibility. Participants kept track of 1-3 items (digits or Gibson figures). In each trial, the items either were similar to those in the previous trial or were different in any or all of the items. Experiments 1 and 2 established the existence of 2 independent RT components representing the 2 updating processes. Global updating cost was sensitive to total number of items in WM (set size), regardless of the number of items that actually were modified. Local updating cost was sensitive to the number of modified items, regardless of the set size. Experiment 3 showed that participants had to dismantle the representation formed by previous global updating in order to carry out new updating.

Control by action representation and input selection (CARIS) is a modeling framework for task-switching experiments, which considers action-related effects as critical constraints. It assumes that control operates by choosing control parameter values, representing input selection and action representation. Competing CARIS models differ in whether (a) control parameters are determined by current instructions or represent a perseveration, (b) current instructions apply to the input selection and/or to action representation. According to the chosen model (a) task execution results in a default bias in favor of the executed task thus creating perseverative tendencies; (b) control counteracts these tendencies by applying a transient momentary bias whose locus (input selection or action representation) changes as a function of task preparation time; (c) this happens because the task-cue (e.g., SHAPE) initially attracts attention to the immediately available cue-information (e.g., target shape) and then attracts it to inferred or retrieved information (e.g., "circle" is related to the right key press).

What happens to goal‐relevant information in working memory after it is no longer needed? Here, we review evidence for a selective removal process that operates on outdated information to limit working memory load and hence facilitates the maintenance of goal‐relevant information. Removal alters the representations of irrelevant content so as to reduce access to it, thereby improving access to the remaining relevant content and also facilitating the encoding of new information. Both behavioral and neural evidence support the existence of a removal process that is separate from forgetting due to decay or interference. We discuss the potential mechanisms involved in removal and characterize the time course and duration of the process. In doing so, we propose the existence of two forms of removal: one is temporary, and reversible, which modifies working memory content without impacting content‐to‐context bindings, and another is permanent, which unbinds the content from its context in working memory (without necessarily impacting long‐term forgetting). Finally, we discuss limitations on removal and prescribe conditions for evaluating evidence for or against this process.

This study investigated the mental representation of music notation. Notational audiation is the ability to internally "hear" the music one is reading before physically hearing it performed on an instrument. In earlier studies, the authors claimed that this process engages music imagery contingent on subvocal silent singing. This study refines the previously developed embedded melody task and further explores the phonatory nature of notational audiation with throat-audio and larynx-electromyography measurement. Experiment 1 corroborates previous findings and confirms that notational audiation is a process engaging kinesthetic-like covert excitation of the vocal folds linked to phonatory resources. Experiment 2 explores whether covert rehearsal with the mind's voice also involves actual motor processing systems and suggests that the mental representation of music notation cues manual motor imagery. Experiment 3 verifies findings of both Experiments 1 and 2 with a sample of professional drummers. The study points to the profound reliance on phonatory and manual motor processing-a dual-route stratagem-used during music reading. Further implications concern the integration of auditory and motor imagery in the brain and cross-modal encoding of a unisensory input.

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Working memory (WM) updating is a controlled process through which relevant information in the environment is selected to enter the gate to WM and substitute its contents. We suggest that there is also an automatic form of updating, which influences performance in many tasks and is primarily manifested in reaction time sequential effects. The goal of the present study was to dissociate WM updating and automatic updating, characterize the nature of these operations and identify the memory system responsible for each. In addition, we investigated the relationship between WM updating and the P3 event-related potential component. In Experiment 1, we compared the sequential processes in 1-back and 2-alternative forced choice tasks. These results indicated differential sources of sequential processes in the 2 tasks. We proposed that automatic updating operates in long-term memory on representations separate from WM representations. In addition, the event-related potential results of Experiment 1 are inconsistent with the idea that P3 is triggered through WM updating. Subsequently, in Experiments 2-3, we decomposed the 1-back task to major subprocesses. To this end, a new paradigm is introduced: the reference-back task. This paradigm facilitated the empirical distinction between automatic updating, comparison processes, gating and WM updating, within the same task. The results replicated the separate effects of WM updating and automatic updating on performance, and they provided behavioral evidence for a gating mechanism that separates WM from long-term memory. (PsycINFO Database Record