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Abstract:
Abstract: Many functions have been attributed to an anterior
attention network (AAN), including error detection, planning,
inhibition, working memory, voluntary attention or response
switching, and novel task performance. For example, Posner &
Petersen (1990) demonstrated that the AAN is required to perform
novel tasks, but is not active when the tasks, and in particular
the responses, are highly practiced. However, many previous studies
have used complex tasks, relying heavily on working memory. Fewer
studies have investigated switching between well-learned response
sets, minimizing the role of working memory. In the present study,
one of two possible targets was presented, each associated with two
different response sets. The cue presented prior to the target
indicated which response to use for that trial. Both response sets
became well-learned over the course of 640 trials. We investigated
whether the cost of switching response sets diminished with
practice, which would suggest that the switching process can become
automatic. Results showed that, in general, response times (RTs)
were fastest when the response set and target did not change from
the previous trial, and that a switch in either the target or the
response set increased RTs. The cost of switching response sets did
not decrease with practice. Interestingly, RTs for target switch
only trials were longer in the unpredictable versus the predictable
condition.
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