Correction: On the Utility of Integrated Speed-Accuracy Measures when Speed-Accuracy Trade-Off is Present.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.5334/joc.154.].

On the Utility of Integrated Speed-Accuracy Measures when Speed-Accuracy Trade-off is Present.

In an attempt to simplify data analysis and to avoid confounds due to speed-accuracy trade-off, sometimes integrated measures of speed and accuracy are used. Although it has been claimed that some of these combined measures are insensitive to speed-accuracy trade-off (SAT), a systematic and broad examination of such claims has not been performed thus far. The present article reports the results of four simulation studies in which five established integrated measures were studied in different speed-accuracy trade-off contexts. All four studies used repeated measures designs crossing an experimental factor (variable of interest) with a factor representing SAT settings, with all conditions occurring randomly over the sequence of trials to avoid condition-wise SATs (mixed conditions repeated measures design). The first study used speed modulations that were balanced by accuracy changes in the opposite direction. The other studies were all based on SAT as modeled either by the drift-diffusion model, with pro-active trade-off settings (Study 2) or with reactive trade-off modulations (Study 3) or by a discontinuous two-phase model (Study 4). Only the studies based on balanced trade-offs showed that two of the measures were insensitive to SAT settings, while in all other contexts, all measures were sensitive to SAT. Nevertheless, as the mixed conditions design distributes the SAT effects over the conditions of the variable of interest, all integrated measures reliably detected the effect of this variable in all SAT conditions. Although integrated measures are sensitive to SAT, these effects can be neutralised by using a mixed conditions repeated measures design.

How the Working Memory with Distributed Executive Control Model Accounts for Task Switching and Dual-Task Coordination Costs.

According to the working memory model with distributed executive control (WMDEC), working memory is not only used for temporary maintenance of information, but it also serves goal-directed action by maintaining task-related information. Such information may include the current action goal, the means selected to attain the goal, situational constraints, and interim processing results. A computational version of the WMDEC model was used to simulate human performance in a series of experiments that examined particular predictions regarding task switching costs, costs due to task and attention switching, to dual-task coordination in working memory tasks, and to experiments that required dual-task coordination of memorisation and task switching demands. The results of these simulations are reported and their implications for accounts of multi- and dual-tasking are discussed.

Working memory benchmarks-A missed opportunity: Comment on Oberauer et al. (2018).

This commentary addresses a number of problems with the benchmarks proposed for evaluating theories of short-term and working memory (Oberauer et al., 2018). First, it is shown that the proposed benchmarks intentionally exclude findings regarding the core of the working memory construct and also miss some important findings from other subdomains. For these reasons, the benchmarks cannot be considered as a valid representation of the findings on short-term and working memory. Second, it is shown that although theory-neutrality of the benchmarks was aimed for, this goal was not achieved because theory-neutrality in the formulation of the benchmarks does not guarantee inclusion of all theory-dependent findings. For these reasons, the benchmarks miss their purpose and are defined in such a way as to encourage a future theory development that studies working memory in isolation from other cognitive activities and thus misses the opportunity to stimulate a better integrative understanding of working memory in the broader context of cognition. (PsycINFO Database Record

The role of executive control in resolving grammatical number conflict in sentence comprehension.

In sentences with a complex subject noun phrase, like "The key to the cabinets is lost", the grammatical number of the head noun (key) may be the same or different from that of the modifier noun phrase (cabinets). When the number is the same, comprehension is usually easier than when it is different. Grammatical number computation may occur while processing the modifier noun (integration phase) or while processing the verb (checking phase). We investigated at which phase number conflict and plausibility of the modifier noun as subject for the verb affect processing, and we imposed a gaze-contingent tone discrimination task in either phase to test whether number computation involves executive control. At both phases, gaze durations were longer when a concurrent tone task was present. Additionally, at the integration phase, gaze durations were longer under number conflict, and this effect was enhanced by the presence of a tone task, whereas no effects of plausibility of the modifier were observed. The finding that the effect of number match was larger under load shows that computation of the grammatical number of the complex noun phrase requires executive control in the integration phase, but not in the checking phase.

Further Tests of the Utility of Integrated Speed-Accuracy Measures in Task Switching.

Speed and accuracy of performance are central to many theoretical accounts of cognitive processing. In recent years, several integrated performance measures have been proposed. A comparative study of the available measures [Vandierendonck, A. (2017). A comparison of methods to combine speed and accuracy measures of performance: A rejoinder on the binning procedure. Behavior Research Methods, 49, 653-673. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-016-0721-5] concluded that three of the measures, namely inverse efficiency score, rate correct score, and linear integrated speed-accuracy score achieved a balanced integration of speed and accuracy. As a follow-up on that study, these three measures were examined in data analyses from 13 (published and unpublished) experiments in the context of task switching. The correlations of the effect sizes in these integrated scores with the effect sizes obtained in latency and accuracy were high, but varied across the three integrated measures. The efficiency to detect effects supported by the speed and accuracy data was examined by means of signal detection analyses. The three measures efficiently detected effects present in either speed or accuracy, but the rate correct score was less efficient than the other two measures and it signalled a larger number of strong effects unsupported by the speed and accuracy data. It is concluded that while the rate correct score is better avoided, and the usage of the inverse efficiency score should be restricted to data with low overall error rates, the linear integrated speed-accuracy score proves to be valid.

A comparison of methods to combine speed and accuracy measures of performance: A rejoinder on the binning procedure.

In cognitive research, speed and accuracy are two important aspects of performance. When analyzed separately, these performance variables sometimes lead to contradictory conclusions about the effect of a manipulation. To avoid such conflicts, several measures that integrate speed and accuracy have been proposed, but the added value of using such measures remains unclear. The present paper compares the relative utility of seven integrated performance measures, namely four variations on a binning procedure that weights response times of correct and incorrect trials differently, and three measures that combine averaged speed and accuracy scores. The properties of these integrated measures were explored in three simulation studies. The first study compared three binning measures and showed that one measure failed to grasp the performance difference between two conditions. The second study showed that the sampling distributions of the measures were symmetric, except for a strong skewness on the rate correct score. The third study varied the trade-off and the effect sizes of speed and accuracy in four different combinations of size and direction of speed and accuracy effects. These studies highlighted some further shortcomings of the binning measures. The combination measures performed well, but linear integration of speed and accuracy and rate correct score were most efficient in detecting effects and accounting for a larger proportion of the variance. The paper concludes that these combination measures are useful provided that the speed and accuracy data are also inspected.

A Working Memory System With Distributed Executive Control.

Working memory consists of domain-specific storage facilities and domain-general executive control processes. In some working memory theories, these control processes are accounted for via a homunculus, the central executive. In the present article, the author defends a mechanistic view of executive control by adopting the position that executive control is situated in the context of goal-directed behavior to maintain and protect the goal and to select an action to attain the goal. On the basis of findings in task switching and dual tasking, he proposes an adapted multicomponent working memory model in which the central executive is replaced by three interacting components: an executive memory that maintains the task set, a collection of acquired procedural rules, and an engine that executes the procedural rules that match the ensemble of working memory contents. The strongest among the rules that match the ensemble of working memory contents is applied, resulting in changes of the working memory contents or in motor actions. According to this model, goals are attained when the route to the goals is known or can be searched when the route is unknown (problem solving). Empirical evidence for this proposal and new predictions are discussed.

Modality independence of order coding in working memory: Evidence from cross-modal order interference at recall.

Working memory researchers do not agree on whether order in serial recall is encoded by dedicated modality-specific systems or by a more general modality-independent system. Although previous research supports the existence of autonomous modality-specific systems, it has been shown that serial recognition memory is prone to cross-modal order interference by concurrent tasks. The present study used a serial recall task, which was performed in a single-task condition and in a dual-task condition with an embedded memory task in the retention interval. The modality of the serial task was either verbal or visuospatial, and the embedded tasks were in the other modality and required either serial or item recall. Care was taken to avoid modality overlaps during presentation and recall. In Experiment 1, visuospatial but not verbal serial recall was more impaired when the embedded task was an order than when it was an item task. Using a more difficult verbal serial recall task, verbal serial recall was also more impaired by another order recall task in Experiment 2. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis of modality-independent order coding. The implications for views on short-term recall and the multicomponent view of working memory are discussed.

Symbiosis of executive and selective attention in working memory.

The notion of working memory (WM) was introduced to account for the usage of short-term memory resources by other cognitive tasks such as reasoning, mental arithmetic, language comprehension, and many others. This collaboration between memory and other cognitive tasks can only be achieved by a dedicated WM system that controls task coordination. To that end, WM models include executive control. Nevertheless, other attention control systems may be involved in coordination of memory and cognitive tasks calling on memory resources. The present paper briefly reviews the evidence concerning the role of selective attention in WM activities. A model is proposed in which selective attention control is directly linked to the executive control part of the WM system. The model assumes that apart from storage of declarative information, the system also includes an executive WM module that represents the current task set. Control processes are automatically triggered when particular conditions in these modules are met. As each task set represents the parameter settings and the actions needed to achieve the task goal, it will depend on the specific settings and actions whether selective attention control will have to be shared among the active tasks. Only when such sharing is required, task performance will be affected by the capacity limits of the control system involved.

A chain-retrieval model for voluntary task switching.

To account for the findings obtained in voluntary task switching, this article describes and tests the chain-retrieval model. This model postulates that voluntary task selection involves retrieval of task information from long-term memory, which is then used to guide task selection and task execution. The model assumes that the retrieved information consists of acquired sequences (or chains) of tasks, that selection may be biased towards chains containing more task repetitions and that bottom-up triggered repetitions may overrule the intended task. To test this model, four experiments are reported. In Studies 1 and 2, sequences of task choices and the corresponding transition sequences (task repetitions or switches) were analyzed with the help of dependency statistics. The free parameters of the chain-retrieval model were estimated on the observed task sequences and these estimates were used to predict autocorrelations of tasks and transitions. In Studies 3 and 4, sequences of hand choices and their transitions were analyzed similarly. In all studies, the chain-retrieval model yielded better fits and predictions than statistical models of event choice. In applications to voluntary task switching (Studies 1 and 2), all three parameters of the model were needed to account for the data. When no task switching was required (Studies 3 and 4), the chain-retrieval model could account for the data with one or two parameters clamped to a neutral value. Implications for our understanding of voluntary task selection and broader theoretical implications are discussed.

Passive hand movements disrupt adults' counting strategies.

In the present study, we experimentally tested the role of hand motor circuits in simple-arithmetic strategies. Educated adults solved simple additions (e.g., 8 + 3) or simple subtractions (e.g., 11 - 3) while they were required to retrieve the answer from long-term memory (e.g., knowing that 8 + 3 = 11), to transform the problem by making an intermediate step (e.g., 8 + 3 = 8 + 2 + 1 = 10 + 1 = 11) or to count one-by-one (e.g., 8 + 3 = 8…9…10…11). During the process of solving the arithmetic problems, the experimenter did or did not move the participants' hand on a four-point matrix. The results show that passive hand movements disrupted the counting strategy while leaving the other strategies unaffected. This pattern of results is in agreement with a procedural account, showing that the involvement of hand motor circuits in adults' mathematical abilities is reminiscent of finger counting during childhood.

Control of interference during working memory updating.

The current study examined the nature of the processes underlying working memory updating. In 4 experiments using the n-back paradigm, the authors demonstrate that continuous updating of items in working memory prevents strong binding of those items to their contexts in working memory, and hence leads to an increased susceptibility to proactive interference. Results of Experiments 1 and 2 show that this interference reflects a competition between a process that reveals the degree of familiarity of an item and a context-sensitive recollection process that depends on the strength of bindings in working memory. Experiment 3 further clarifies the origins of interference during updating by demonstrating that even items that are semantically related to the updated working memory contents but that have not been maintained in working memory before cause proactive interference. Finally, the results of Experiment 4 indicate that the occurrence of interference leads to top-down behavioral adjustments that prioritize recollection over familiarity assessment. The implications of these findings for the construct validity of the n-back task, for the control processes involved in working memory updating, and for the concept of executive control more generally are discussed.

Switch performance in peripherally and centrally triggered saccades.

A common hypothesis is that the switch cost measured when switching between prosaccades and antisaccades mainly reflects the inhibition of the saccadic system after the execution of an antisaccade, which requires the inhibition of a gaze response. The present study further tested this hypothesis by comparing switch performance between peripherally triggered saccades and centrally triggered saccades with the latter type of saccades not requiring inhibition of a gaze response. For peripherally triggered saccades, a switch cost was present for prosaccades but not for antisaccades. For centrally triggered saccades, a switch cost was present both for prosaccades and for antisaccades. The difference between both saccade tasks further supports the hypothesis that the switch performance observed for peripherally triggered saccades is related to the inhibition of a gaze response that is required when executing a peripherally triggered antisaccade and the persisting inhibition in the saccadic system this entails. Furthermore, the switch costs observed for centrally triggered saccades indicate that more general processes besides the persisting inhibition in the saccadic system, such as reconfiguration and interference control, also contribute to the switch performance in saccades.

Task switching: interplay of reconfiguration and interference control.

The task-switching paradigm is being increasingly used as a tool for studying cognitive control and task coordination. Different procedural variations have been developed. They have in common that a comparison is made between transitions in which the previous task is repeated and transitions that involve a change toward another task. In general, a performance switch cost is observed such that switching to a new task results in a slower and more error-prone execution of the task. The present article reviews the theoretical explanations of the switch cost and the findings collected in support of those explanations. Resolution and protection from interference by previous events explain part of the switching cost, but processes related to task setting and task preparation also play a prominent role, as testified by faster execution and lower switch costs when the preparation time is longer. The authors discuss the evidence in favor of each of these sets of accounts and raise a number of questions that situate task switching in a broader context of cognitive control processes. The role of several aspects of the task set, including task variations, task-set overlap, and task-set structure, is addressed, as is the role of knowledge about probability of task changes and about the structure of task sequences.

Cognitive control in cued task switching with transition cues: cue processing, task processing, and cue-task transition congruency.

We investigated the processes underlying performance during cued task switching with transition cues. To this end, transition cueing and explicit cueing were compared in a design controlling for sequential effects in the two preceding trials in order to further examine the contribution of cue processes, task processes, and cue-task transition congruency during transition cueing. The study confirmed that the task-switch cost in transition cueing is larger than the task-switch cost in explicit cueing and showed that this larger switch cost is mainly due to cue processing. We also successfully decomposed performance in transition cueing into cue processing, task processing, and cue-task transition congruency on both a theoretical (Experiment 1) and an empirical basis (Experiments 2-3). Our empirical dissociation also demonstrates that cue-task transition congruency affects performance during both cue processing and task processing. We discuss the importance of our findings in relation to the different theories on task switching.

Persisting activation in voluntary task switching: it all depends on the instructions.

We tested the hypothesis that persisting activation from a previous task execution does not contribute to the switch cost in voluntary task switching. We reasoned that voluntary task switching requires the selection of random task sequences, which necessitates the active inhibition of previously executed tasks. The asymmetric switch cost was used as a marker for persisting activation. Participants switched voluntarily between color naming and word naming. One group was instructed to select unpredictable task sequences. The other group was not instructed to do so. When participants were instructed to be unpredictable, no asymmetric switch cost was observed. When participants were not instructed to be unpredictable, an asymmetric switch cost was observed. We conclude that the amount of persisting activation in voluntary task switching is limited and that the switch cost in voluntary task switching reflects the time needed for reconfiguring the cognitive system from one task to another rather than the time needed to compensate for persisting activation.

Voluntary task switching under load: contribution of top-down and bottom-up factors in goal-directed behavior.

The present study investigated the relative contribution of bottom-up and top-down control to task selection in the voluntary task-switching (VTS) procedure. In order to manipulate the efficiency of top-down control, a concurrent working memory load was imposed during VTS. In three experiments, bottom-up factors, such as stimulus repetitions, repetition of irrelevant information, and stimulus-task associations, were introduced in order to investigate their influence on task selection. We observed that the tendency to repeat tasks was stronger under load, suggesting that top-down control counteracts the automatic tendency to repeat tasks. The results also indicated that task selection can be guided by several elements in the environment, but that only the influence of stimulus repetitions depends on the efficiency of top-down control. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed within the interplay between top-down and bottom-up control that underlies the voluntary selection of tasks.

Are voluntary switches corrected repetitions?

While recent years have witnessed a growing interest in Voluntary Task Switching (VTS), the control mechanisms that are required in order to switch tasks on a voluntary basis remain to be identified. Starting from the finding that in VTS the proportion of task repetitions is usually higher than the proportion of task switches (task-repetition bias), the present electrophysiological study tests and confirms the hypothesis that, during VTS, one initially re-selects the previously executed task, before correcting this bias and selecting the alternative task. On the one hand, these findings allow us to describe how people switch cognitive tasks voluntarily. On the other hand, our approach underlines the usefulness of electrophysiological measures in understanding the processes by which voluntary behavior occurs.

Is advance reconfiguration in voluntary task switching affected by the design employed?

In task switching, when the amount of preparation time is increased, a reduction in switch cost or RISC effect is observed. This RISC effect is frequently attributed to advance reconfiguration processes. In the explicit task-cueing procedure, RISC effects are observed when varying the preparation time within participants but not when varying the preparation time across participants--a finding suggesting that RISC effects in the explicit task-cueing procedure are restricted to specific designs. The present study investigated RISC effects in voluntary task switching and compared RISC effects in a within-subjects design with RISC effects in a between-subjects design. Our results indicate that RISC effects are present in both designs. We conclude that advance reconfiguration in voluntary task switching is robust.