Mendl, Jonathan and Dreisbach, Gesine (2024) Is Task Switching Avoided to Save Effort or Time? Shorter Intertrial Durations Following Task Switches Increase the Willingness to Switch Tasks. MOTIVATION SCIENCE, 10 (4). pp. 290-298. ISSN 2333-8113, 2333-8121
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Human decision making is often described in terms of economic cost-benefit analyses. In voluntary task switching, the typical avoidance of task switches (repetition bias) has been primarily explained by effort costs. The present study investigated whether temporal costs independent of effort also guide the decision to switch. In two preregistered experiments (N-E1 = 86; N-E2 = 85), we used a hybrid task-switching paradigm with a mixture of predetermined (forced-choice) and voluntary (free-choice) trials. The duration of the intertrial interval after a switch was manipulated between blocks to be either always longer or always shorter than after a repetition. The results showed increased voluntary switch rates in blocks with a shorter interval following switches whereas the performance was not affected. Moreover, the effect was still evident in Experiment 2, where the interval was manipulated only after forced-choice task switches. This suggests that the temporal costs associated with switching contribute to the switch avoidance.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | OWN REACTION-TIMES; RECONFIGURATION; INTERFERENCE; INTENSITY; COST; cognitive flexibility; voluntary task switching; temporal costs |
| Subjects: | 100 Philosophy & psychology > 150 Psychology |
| Divisions: | Human Sciences > Institut für Psychologie Human Sciences > Institut für Psychologie > Lehrstuhl für Psychologie II (Allgemeine und Angewandte Psychologie) - Prof. Dr. Gesine Dreisbach |
| Depositing User: | Dr. Gernot Deinzer |
| Date Deposited: | 25 Jul 2025 07:49 |
| Last Modified: | 25 Jul 2025 07:49 |
| URI: | https://pred.uni-regensburg.de/id/eprint/63739 |
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