Task Switching and Cognitive Control [Hardcover]

One thing that separates human beings from the rest of the animal world is our ability to control behavior by referencing internal plans, goals, and rules. This ability, which is crucial to our success in a complex social environment, depends on the purposeful generation of task sets --states of mental readiness that allow each of us to engage with the world in a particular way or achieve a particular aim.

This book reports the latest research regarding the activation, maintenance, and suppression of task sets. Chapters from many of the world's leading researchers in task switching and cognitive control investigate key issues in the field, from how we select the most relevant task when presented with distracting alternatives, to how we maintain focus on a task ( eyes on the prize ) and switch to a new one when our goals or external circumstances change. Chapters also explore the brain structures responsible for these abilities, how they develop during childhood, and whether they decline due to normal aging or neurological disorders.

Of interest especially to scholars and students of cognitive psychology, the volume offers thorough, multi-disciplinary coverage of contemporary research and theories concerning this fundamental yet mysterious aspect of human brain function and behavior.

Chapter 1 - Task Switching & Cognitive Control: An Introduction
James A. Grange & George Houghton

Chapter 2 - Tasks, Task Sets, and the Mapping Between Them
Darryl W. Schneider & Gordon D. Logan

Chapter 3 - The Task-Cuing Paradigm: A User's Guide
Nachshon Meiran

Chapter 4 - The Mixing Cost as a Measure of Cognitive Control
Paloma Mari-Beffa & Alexander Kirkham

Chapter 5 - The Extended Runs Procedure and Restart Cost
Erik M. Altmann

Chapter 6 - Voluntary Task Wwitching
Catherine M. Arrington, Kaitlin M. Reiman, & Starla M. Weaver

Chapter 7 - Inhibitory Control in Task Switching
Miriam Gade, Stefanie Schucl3+