The affective twitches of task switches: Task switch cues are evaluated as negative

Vermeylen, Luc; Braem, Senne; Notebaert, Wim

doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2018.11.002

Cited by 24 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…The experiment was programmed in Inquisit 4.0 and hosted via Inquisit Web (Millisecond Software, Seattle, WA). In accordance with Vermeylen et al (2019), sample size was determined using sequential Bayesian hypothesis testing by increasing the sample until a decisive Bayes Factor (BF) larger than 6 (or <1/6) was obtained in the crucial within-subjects t-test (Schönbrodt, Wagenmakers, Zehetleitner, & Perugini, 2017). We set the minimal sample size at 60 participants which provides approximately 90% power to find an effect size of d = 0.38 (as observed in Experiment 2 of Vermeylen et al, 2019).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recently, Vermeylen, Braem, and Notebaert (2019) provided evidence that not only conflict between responses is negatively evaluated, but also conflict between tasks. In two experiments, participants first completed a task switching procedure in which one transition cue (e.g., the word "REPEAT") probed participants to repeat the same task as on the previous trial and another transition cue (e.g., the word "SWITCH") probed them to perform a different task.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Task switches therefore typically induce a performance cost over task repetitions, which is referred to as the switch cost (see Kiesel et al, 2010;Koch et al, 2010;Monsell, 2003;Vandierendonck, Liefooghe, & Verbruggen, 2010, for reviews). Following the task switching block, Vermeylen et al (2019) probed participants' implicit evaluation of the cues that had indicated an upcoming task switch compared to the cues that had indicated an upcoming task repetition. In an evaluative priming procedure, transition cues served as primes that were presented prior to Chinese ideographs that participants categorized as positive or negative.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…These effects have often been considered to result from the automatic formation of mental associations that occurs on the basis of the repeated pairing of actions and stimuli (e.g., Phills, Kawakami, Tabi, Nadolny, & Inzlicht, 2011). Likewise, the results of Vermeylen et al (2019) can be interpreted in terms of the automatic formation of an association between a representation of a word signaling the demand to switch tasks and a representation of the act of switching, which is effortful and therefore negatively evaluated (Vermeylen et al, 2019; see also Kool et al, 2010).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Based on the aforementioned considerations, the question arises whether mere instructions can also induce evaluative effects of cognitive control. To investigate this question, the present study examines whether the relative disliking of task switching cues that was observed in the study by Vermeylen et al (2019) can be observed based on mere instructions or requires actual experience with the task switching procedure and the transition cues. If instructions are sufficient to produce evaluative effects similar to those reported by Vermeylen and colleagues, then this would suggest that the initial task model created on the basis of instructions, not only includes a representation of the components of a task but also evaluative properties associated with the task or situation described by these instructions.…”

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confidence: 99%

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The Instructed Task-Switch Evaluation Effect: Is the Instruction to Switch Tasks Sufficient to Dislike Task Switch Cues?

Dessel

Liefooghe

Houwer

2020

Journal of Cognition

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It is often argued that people dislike situations in which there is conflict requiring cognitive control, possibly because it is effortful to resolve this conflict. In a recent study, Vermeylen, Braem, and Notebaert (2019) provided evidence for this idea in the context of task switching. They observed that participants evaluated cues signaling a task switch more negatively than cues signaling a task repetition in a task switching paradigm. The present study examined whether this evaluative bias can be observed also on the basis of mere instructions. We instructed participants that two non-words would either signal the requirement to switch or to repeat tasks in an upcoming task switching block, which was actually never administered. In Experiment 1, we did not observe more positive implicit or explicit evaluations of the instructed task repetition compared to the task switch cue. In Experiment 2, participants first completed a task switching block in which a first pair of transition cues were used. We then provided task switching instructions that described the signaling function of a second pair of cues, which would be used in an upcoming (but never administered) second task switching block. Participants showed a clear preference for both instructed and experienced task repetition cues on explicit but not on implicit evaluations. Experiment 3 replicated the instructed taskswitch evaluation effect on explicit evaluations in the context of prior task experience (but not without prior experience) and extended it to implicit evaluations. We discuss theoretical implications and potential explanations of this task-switch evaluation effect.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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