@article{ref1,
title="Attentional inertia and delayed orienting of spatial attention in task-switching",
journal="Journal of experimental psychology: human perception and performance",
year="2014",
author="Longman, Cai S. and Lavric, Aureliu and Munteanu, Cristian and Monsell, Stephen",
volume="40",
number="4",
pages="1580-1602",
abstract="Among the potential, but neglected, sources of task-switch costs is the need to reallocate attention to different attributes or objects. Even theorists who recognize the importance of attentional resetting in task-switching sometimes think it too efficient to result in significant behavioral costs. We examined the dynamics of spatial attention in a task-cuing paradigm using eye-tracking. Digits appeared simultaneously at 3 locations. A cue preceded this display by a variable interval, instructing the performance of 1 of 3 classification tasks (odd-even, low-high, inner-outer) each consistently associated with a location, so that task preparation could be tracked via fixation of the task-relevant location. Task-switching led to a delay in selecting the relevant location and a tendency to misallocate attention; the previously relevant location attracted attention much more than the other irrelevant location on switch trials, indicating &quot;inertia&quot; in attentional parameters rather than mere distractibility. These effects predicted reaction time switch costs within and over participants. The switch-induced delay was not confined to trials with slow/late orienting, but characteristic of most switch trials. The attentional pull of the previously relevant location was substantially reduced, but not eliminated, by extending the preparation interval to more than 1 sec, suggesting that attentional inertia contributes to the &quot;residual&quot; switch cost. A control condition, using identical displays but only 1 task, showed that these effects could not be attributed to the (small and transient) delays or inertia observed when the required orientation changed between trials in the absence of a task change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0096-1523",
doi="10.1037/a0036552",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0036552"
}