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J Neurophysiol 95: 3146-3153, 2006. First published February 8, 2006; doi:10.1152/jn.01184.2005
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Task Switching as a Two-Stage Decision Process

N. Sinha, J.T.G. Brown and R.H.S. Carpenter

The Physiological Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Submitted 8 November 2005; accepted in final form 31 January 2006

Saccades represent decisions, and the study of their latency has led to a neurally plausible model of the underlying mechanisms, LATER (Linear Approach to Threshold with Ergodic Rate), that can successfully predict reaction time behavior in simple decision tasks, with fixed instructions. However, if the instructions abruptly change, we have a more complex situation, known as task switching. Psychologists' explanations of the phenomena of task switching have so far tended to be qualitative rather than quantitative, and not intended to relate particularly clearly to existing models of decision making or to likely neural implementations. Here, we investigated task switching using a novel saccadic task: we presented the instructions by stimulus elements identical to those of the task itself, allowing us to compare decisions about instructions with decisions in the actual task. Our results support a relatively simple model consisting of two distinct LATER processes in series: the first detects the instruction, the second implements it.

Address for reprint requests and other correspondence: R.H.S. Carpenter, The Physiological Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EG, UK (E-mail: rhsc1{at}cam.ac.uk)




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A. Oswal, M. Ogden, and R.H.S. Carpenter
The Time Course of Stimulus Expectation in a Saccadic Decision Task
J Neurophysiol, April 1, 2007; 97(4): 2722 - 2730.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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