Task-switching: positive and negative priming of task-set

Abstract

Abstract The first half of this chapter provides a critical review of experiments on task-switching, with reference to the theoretical interpretation of behavioural ‘switch-costs’. Our review focusses on intrinsically competing pairs of tasks, such as object naming in either of two languages; competing arithmetic operations; and Stroop colour-naming vs. word-reading. We argue that the behavioural costs of switching between competing tasks of this kind result from components of the task-set for the preceding task(s), which can remain primed involuntarily (‘task-set inertia’).