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Minimal impact of consolidation on learned switch-readiness.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Bejjani, C; Siqi-Liu, A; Egner, T
Published in: Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition
October 2021

Adaptive behavior is characterized by our ability to create, maintain, and update (or switch) rules by which we categorize and respond to stimuli across changing contexts (cognitive flexibility). Recent research suggests that people can link the control process of task-switching to contextual cues through associative learning, whereby the behavioral cost of switching is reduced for contexts that require frequent switching. One example is the listwide proportion switch (LWPS) effect, denoting smaller switch costs in blocks of trials where switching is more frequent. However, the conditions that govern such learned cognitive flexibility are poorly understood. One major unanswered question is whether this type of learning benefits from memory consolidation effects. To address this question, we manipulated whether task-sets and/or specific task stimuli were more frequently linked with task-switching (vs. repeating), and ran participants over two experimental sessions, separated by a 24-hr delay. We expected that consolidation would facilitate learned cognitive flexibility, resulting in a greater reduction of switch costs with increasing task-switch likelihood on Session 2 compared with Session 1. Across two experiments, we observed robust LWPS effects in both sessions. However, we found little evidence for effects of consolidation on learned cognitive flexibility: The magnitude of the LWPS effect did not change from Session 1 to 2. Altogether our results suggest that people reliably and quickly acquire task-set and stimulus-based switch associations, but this form of control learning-unlike many instances of reward-based learning-does not benefit from long-term memory consolidation. Possible reasons for these findings are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

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Published In

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition

DOI

EISSN

1939-1285

ISSN

0278-7393

Publication Date

October 2021

Volume

47

Issue

10

Start / End Page

1622 / 1637

Related Subject Headings

  • Reward
  • Reaction Time
  • Psychomotor Performance
  • Learning
  • Humans
  • Experimental Psychology
  • Cues
  • Adaptation, Psychological
  • 5204 Cognitive and computational psychology
  • 1702 Cognitive Sciences
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Bejjani, C., Siqi-Liu, A., & Egner, T. (2021). Minimal impact of consolidation on learned switch-readiness. Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 47(10), 1622–1637. https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0001074
Bejjani, Christina, Audrey Siqi-Liu, and Tobias Egner. “Minimal impact of consolidation on learned switch-readiness.Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition 47, no. 10 (October 2021): 1622–37. https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0001074.
Bejjani C, Siqi-Liu A, Egner T. Minimal impact of consolidation on learned switch-readiness. Journal of experimental psychology Learning, memory, and cognition. 2021 Oct;47(10):1622–37.
Bejjani, Christina, et al. “Minimal impact of consolidation on learned switch-readiness.Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition, vol. 47, no. 10, Oct. 2021, pp. 1622–37. Epmc, doi:10.1037/xlm0001074.
Bejjani C, Siqi-Liu A, Egner T. Minimal impact of consolidation on learned switch-readiness. Journal of experimental psychology Learning, memory, and cognition. 2021 Oct;47(10):1622–1637.

Published In

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition

DOI

EISSN

1939-1285

ISSN

0278-7393

Publication Date

October 2021

Volume

47

Issue

10

Start / End Page

1622 / 1637

Related Subject Headings

  • Reward
  • Reaction Time
  • Psychomotor Performance
  • Learning
  • Humans
  • Experimental Psychology
  • Cues
  • Adaptation, Psychological
  • 5204 Cognitive and computational psychology
  • 1702 Cognitive Sciences