Switch-Independent Task Representations in Frontal and Parietal Cortex.

ABSTRACT: Alternating between two tasks is effortful and impairs performance. Previous fMRI studies have found increased activity in frontoparietal cortex when task switching is required. One possibility is that the additional control demands for switch trials are met by strengthening task representations in the human brain. Alternatively, on switch trials, the residual representation of the previous task might impede the buildup of a neural task representation. This would predict weaker task representations on switch trials, thus also explaining the performance costs. To test this, male and female participants were cued to perform one of two similar tasks, with the task being repeated or switched between successive trials. Multivoxel pattern analysis was used to test which regions encode the tasks

SUBMITTER: Loose LS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6596903 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature