Costs of a predictable switch between simple cognitive tasks
Rogers and Monsell had participants alternate between two simple tasks, classifying a digit as odd or even or a letter as consonant or vowel, with the switch every second trial in five experiments and every fourth trial in a sixth. The large cost of switching fell as the interval between response and next stimulus grew to 0.6 seconds, so people could partly prepare. Even with 1.2 seconds available, a substantial reaction-time cost remained, and it appeared only on the first trial of a new task. The authors attribute the remainder to a part of reconfiguration triggered by the stimulus itself, which also explains why switch costs rose when the stimulus contained a character relevant to the other task.
Rogers and Monsell had participants alternate between two simple tasks, classifying a digit as odd or even or a letter as consonant or vowel, with the switch every second trial in five experiments and every fourth trial in a sixth. The large cost of switching fell as the interval between response and next stimulus grew to 0.6 seconds, so people could partly prepare. Even with 1.2 seconds available, a substantial reaction-time cost remained, and it appeared only on the first trial of a new task. The authors attribute the remainder to a part of reconfiguration triggered by the stimulus itself, which also explains why switch costs rose when the stimulus contained a character relevant to the other task.
Written from the abstract read 2026-10-26 via OpenAlex.
What our sources record
Recorded when this source was checked, figures included, with page references and quotation marks removed.
Rogers, R. D., & Monsell, S. (1995). Costs of a predictable switch between simple cognitive tasks. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 124(2), 207-231. doi:10.1037/0096-3445.124.2.207