Task Switching

Running Head Time Cost, Task-Switching, Repeating Tasks Task Switching Costs Time Brooklyn College City University of modern York Abstract A replication of Task Switching Monsell 2003 experiment was done, which predicts a time cost when chemise lying-ins. 18 participants had to complete 100 randomized essays, set uping between task-repeat and task- permutation trials. Reaction Times (RT) were recorded and reflected by experimenters, to determine that there is a time cost intricate when switching tasks as opposed to ingeminate the same task. Task-Switching Costs TimeMany people take pride in the fact that they can multitask. A study Task Switching conducted by Monsell concluded that multitasking, or switching between tasks actually costs us time. Our brain is complicated machinery, which requires a specific program for a specific task to be plastered in to our computer, the brain, to complete a task. Switching between tasks takes more time than repeating the same task. Monsell demonstrated that when presented with one task, our brain responds faster in complemental the task, rather than switching between tasks.In a task-switching experiment subjects are first pretrained on two or more simple tasks afforded by a stupefy of stimuli. Each task requires attention to, and classification of, a different element or attribute of the stimulus or retrieval from memory or calculation of a different property of the stimulus. (eg. , Monsell 2003) In the study the subjects were presented with a series of trials (eg. , Monsell 2003) and completed the task at hand on a random trial basis. The participants had to repeat the same task or switch between tasks to complete each trial.By conducting these trials the researchers tried to examine performance or brain activation on and following trials when the task changes for evidence of extra processing demands that are associated with the need to reconfigure task-set (eg. , Monsell 2003) The study concluded our brain requi res a task-set reconfiguration a sort of mental string changing (eg. , Monsell 2003) In prospective this means that our brain loads a different program every time we need to complete a break up task.When switching between tasks our brain goes between two different programs one for example for counting and one for reading, therefore costing us time to switch between these two tasks. In this experiment we tried to replicate the Monsell 2003 Task Switching experiment. 18 Participants took a brief task-switching test via program Revolution ecclesiastic. Each trial was randomly assigned. The participants were presented with numbers one through nine and on each trial had to react to the number, to identify either its odd or even or if the magnitude was either less than 5 or more than 5.We hypothesis that when individuals are engaged in a cognitive task there is a time cost that occurs when asked to switch between tasks as opposed to repeating tasks. Methods Participants 18 undergraduat e students from Brooklyn College participated in this study. Materials A task switching experiment designed on the computer program Revolution Maker Procedure Participants were led to an isolated lab room were they participated in a task-switching experiment. They were involved in 2 tasks a magnitude test and an odd even task. there was 100 randomly assigned trials 50% task-switch and 50% task-repeat that were completed by the participants. There were different type keys presented to the participants such as z for an odd number, x for an even number, m for a number () than 5, and n for a number (