Interpreting instructional cues in task switching procedures: the role of mediator retrieval

Inhibition of cued but not executed task sets depends on cue-task compatibility and practice

In task switching, processing a task cue is thought to activate the corresponding task representation ("task set"), thereby allowing for advance task preparation. However, the contribution of preparatory processes to the emergence of n-2 repetition costs as index of task set inhibition processes is debated. The present study investigated whether merely preparing for a task activates a corresponding task set, which needs to be inhibited in order to switch to a different task. To this end, we presented so-called task cue-only trials in trial n-2 and assessed subsequent n-2 repetition costs. The results revealed n-2 repetition costs following a task cue-only, but only for compatible cues with a transparent cue-task relation and only at the beginning of the experiment. In contrast, n-2 repetition costs following task execution in trial n-2 were absent. In a second experiment, we sought to rule out that the presence of n-2 repetition costs following a task cue-only and the corresponding absence following task execution were the consequence of a decay of task sets. This second experiment replicated the result pattern of the first experiment, with n-2 repetition costs following a task cue-only being present only at the beginning of the experiment and only for compatible cues. Hence, cue-induced task set inhibition effects depended on cue-task compatibility and practice. Furthermore, merely prepared task sets were more likely inhibited than executed task sets.

Measuring task structure with transitional response times: Task representations are more than task sets

The structure of task representations is widely studied with task-switching procedures in which the experimenter compares performance across predetermined categories of trial transitions (viz., switch costs). This approach has been productive, but relies on experimental assumptions about the relationships among stimulus-response mappings that define a set. Here, we develop a novel method of evaluating structure without relying on such assumptions. Participants responded to centrally presented stimuli and we computed the transitional response times (RTs; changes in RT as a function of specific response sequences) for each response combination. Conventional task-switch analyses revealed costs when the response switched from the left-side to the right or vice versa, but this switch cost was not affected by whether the stimuli belonged to a single category or to two distinct categories. In contrast, the transitional RT analysis provided fine-grained information about relationships among responses and how these relationships were affected by stimulus and response manipulations. Specifically, tasks containing a single stimulus category produced response chains in which neighboring responses had lower transitional RTs, while these chains were broken when two stimulus categories were used. We propose that the transitional RT approach offers a more detailed picture of the underlying task representation that reveals structure not detectable by conventional switch cost measures and does not require a priori assumptions about task organization.

Cognitive Multitasking: Inhibition in Task Switching Depends on Stimulus Complexity

We report a series of three experiments investigating inhibition in task switching, using N-2 repetition costs as an empirical marker. The experiments were structurally identical, employing a standard experimental paradigm where participants switch between three different categorization tasks. The experiments differed with respect to the stimulus material. According to prominent theories of cognitive control, N-2 repetition costs should be observed in all three experiments. To our surprise, this is not what we observed: N-2 repetition costs did not occur in Experiment 1, where we used static pictures from a driving simulator environment showing an oncoming car, embedded in a car-driving scene. In contrast, we observed robust N-2 repetition costs in Experiment 2, where we used static pictures of faces, and in Experiment 3, where the identical car stimuli from Experiment 1 were used, but without the surrounding visual scene. These results suggest that N-2 repetition costs depend on the complexity of the stimulus material. We discuss two aspects of complexity: 1) When the relevant stimulus feature is embedded in a complex visual scene, task-irrelevant features in that scene might trigger additional task sets, and thus induce additional task switches, attenuating N-2 repetition costs among the instructed task sets. 2) The presence of distractors might lead to additional covert or overt shifts of spatial attention, which in turn might reduce the size of N-2 repetition costs. On a more general level, the results illustrate the difficulty of transferring laboratory tasks to settings that bear more similarity to everyday life situations.

An Episodic Model of Task Switching Effects: Erasing the Homunculus from Memory

The Parallel Episodic Processing (PEP) model is a neural network for simulating human performance in speeded response time tasks. It learns with an exemplar-based memory store and it is capable of modelling findings from various subdomains of cognition. In this paper, we show how the PEP model can be designed to follow instructions (e.g., task rules and goals). The extended PEP model is then used to simulate a number of key findings from the task switching domain. These include the switch cost, task-rule congruency effects, response repetition asymmetries, cue repetition benefits, and the full pattern of means from a recent feature integration decomposition of cued task switching (Schmidt & Liefooghe, 2016). We demonstrate that the PEP model fits the participant data well, that the model does not possess the flexibility to match any pattern of results, and that a number of competing task switching models fail to account for key observations that the PEP model produces naturally. Given the parsimony and unique explanatory power of the episodic account presented here, our results suggest that feature-integration biases have a far greater power in explaining task-switching performance than previously assumed.

Reward Boosts Neural Coding of Task Rules to Optimize Cognitive Flexibility

Cognitive flexibility is critical for intelligent behavior. However, its execution is effortful and often suboptimal. Recent work indicates that flexible behavior can be improved by the prospect of reward, which suggests that rewards optimize flexible control processes. Here we investigated how different reward prospects influence neural encoding of task rule information to optimize cognitive flexibility. We applied representational similarity analysis to human electroencephalograms, recorded while female and male participants performed a rule-guided decision-making task. During the task, the prospect of reward varied from trial to trial. Participants made faster, more accurate judgements on high-reward trials. Critically, high reward boosted neural coding of the active task rule, and the extent of this increase was associated with improvements in task performance. Additionally, the effect of high reward on task rule coding was most pronounced on switch trials, where rules were updated relative to the previous trial. These results suggest that reward prospect can promote cognitive performance by strengthening neural coding of task rule information, helping to improve cognitive flexibility during complex behavior.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The importance of motivation is evident in the ubiquity with which reward prospect guides adaptive behavior and the striking number of neurological conditions associated with motivational impairments. In this study, we investigated how dynamic changes in motivation, as manipulated through reward, shape neural coding for task rules during a flexible decision-making task. The results of this work suggest that motivation to obtain reward modulates the encoding of task rules needed for flexible behavior. The extent to which reward increased task rule coding also tracked improvements in behavioral performance under high-reward conditions. These findings help to inform how motivation shapes neural processing in the healthy human brain.

On the Role of Attention in Working Memory for Response Selection in Task Switching

Oberauer's (2019) analysis and related research on how working memory and attention are linked can provide insight regarding how responses are selected in task-switching situations. One mechanism for response selection-the mediated route-categorizes stimuli with respect to both tasks, then activates responses based on instructed category-response associations. The author discusses two proposals for how these associations are represented in working memory, both of which seem consistent with the idea that attention selects or prioritizes the relevant-task associations, enabling accurate response selection. A broader implication of the representation and operation of the mediated route is that nominal task switching might reflect concurrent multitasking within the cognitive system (constrained by attention in working memory), raising the issue of how task switching should be characterized.

General Slowing and Education Mediate Task Switching Performance Across the Life-Span

Objective: This study considered the potential role of both protective factors (cognitive reserve, CR) and adverse ones (general slowing) in modulating cognitive flexibility in the adult life-span. Method: Ninety-eight individuals performed a task-switching (TS) paradigm in which we adopted a manipulation concerning the timing between the cue and the target. Working memory demands were minimized by using transparent cues. Additionally, indices of cognitive integrity, depression, processing speed and different CR dimensions were collected and used in linear models accounting for TS performance under the different time constraints. Results: The main results showed similar mixing costs and higher switching costs in older adults, with an overall age-dependent effect of general slowing on these costs. The link between processing speed and TS performance was attenuated when participants had more time to prepare. Among the different CR indices, formal education only was associated with reduced switch costs under time pressure. Discussion: Even though CR is often operationalized as a unitary construct, the present research confirms the benefits of using tools designed to distinguish between different CR dimensions. Furthermore, our results provide empirical support to the assumption that processing speed influence on executive performance depends on time constraints. Finally, it is suggested that whether age differences appear in terms of switch or mixing costs depends on working memory demands (which were low in our tasks with transparent cues).

Cue–task associations in task switching

Cognitive flexibility can be studied using the task-switching paradigm. This paradigm requires subjects to adapt behaviour to changing contexts as indicated by a cue. In our study, we addressed the question of how cue-based implementation of mental “task sets” occurs. We assumed that cues build up associations to the tasks that they indicate. These associations lead to retrieval of the associated task set once the cue shows up again. In three experiments, we tested this assumption using a negative transfer paradigm. First participants were exposed to one cue–task mapping. After a training phase, the cue–task mapping changed in either of two ways. Whereas one group of participants got new cues, the other experienced a reversal of the learnt cue–task mapping. Our results show that participants build up cue–task associations and that these formerly learnt associations can hamper the implementation of new cue–task mappings (particular with mapping reversal). Prolonged preparation time decreased the cost of changing the cue–task mapping but did not change the overall pattern of results.

Sleep Deprivation Triggers Cognitive Control Impairments in Task-Goal Switching

STUDY OBJECTIVES

This study investigates the impact of sleep deprivation (SD) on task-goal switching, a key component of cognitive flexibility.

METHODS

Task-goal switching performance was tested after one night of regular sleep (n = 17 participants) or of total SD (n = 18). To understand the relationships between task-switching performance and other cognitive processes following SD, participants were tested for other key attentional (alertness and vigilance) and executive (inhibition and working memory) functions. Spontaneous eye blink rate (EBR) was also measured as an indirect marker of striatal dopaminergic function.

RESULTS

SD negatively affects task-goal switching as well as attentional and inhibition measures, but not working memory. Changes in task-goal switching performance were not significantly correlated with changes in objective and subjective markers of fatigue and sleepiness, response inhibition, or spontaneous EBR.

CONCLUSIONS

Altogether, our results show differentiated effects of SD on key executive functions such as working memory, inhibition, and task-goal switching.

Practice and Preparation Time Facilitate System-Switching in Perceptual Categorization

Mounting evidence suggests that category learning is achieved using different psychological and biological systems. While existing multiple-system theories and models of categorization may disagree about the number or nature of the different systems, all assume that people can switch between systems seamlessly. However, little empirical data has been collected to test this assumption, and recent available data suggest that system-switching is difficult. The main goal of this article is to identify factors influencing the proportion of participants who successfully learn to switch between procedural and declarative systems on a trial-by-trial basis. Specifically, we tested the effects of preparation time and practice, two factors that have been useful in task-switching, in a system-switching experiment. The results suggest that practice and preparation time can be beneficial to system-switching (as calculated by a higher proportion of switchers and lower switch costs), especially when they are jointly present. However, this improved system-switching comes at the cost of a larger button-switch interference when changing the location of the response buttons. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of these findings for empirical research on system-switching and theoretical work on multiple-systems of category learning.

Development of an eye-tracking method to assess mental set switching in people with aphasia

BACKGROUND

Deficits in cognitive flexibility contribute to impaired functional communication in people with aphasia. Understanding the relationship between functional communication and cognitive flexibility in people with neurologic communication disorders is important. However, traditional methods to assess mental set switching pose significant linguistic, cognitive and motoric response confounds. Eye-tracking methods have great potential to address these challenges.

AIMS

The goal of this study was to develop and validate an eye-tracking method to index mental set switching in individuals without neurological impairment based upon performance on a nonlinguistic switching task.

METHODS

Eye movements of 20 adults without communication disorders were recorded as they completed a switching task, requiring participants to match stimuli to one or two search criteria (colour or shape) in single- and mixed-task conditions. Differences between single and mixed conditions were assessed with eye-tracking measures. Performance on the eye-tracking task was compared to standardized measures of cognitive flexibility.

RESULTS

Eye-tracking measures indexed significant differences between nonswitch and switch trials within and between single- and mixed-task condition. Some standardized assessment measures correlated significantly with the eye movement measures.

CONCLUSIONS

Results support the construct validity of the novel eye-tracking method for assessing cognitive switching in language-normal adults. Clinical and research implications are discussed.

Learning a nonmediated route for response selection in task switching

Two modes of response selection--a mediated route involving categorization and a nonmediated route involving instance-based memory retrieval--have been proposed to explain response congruency effects in task-switching situations. In the present study, we sought a better understanding of the development and characteristics of the nonmediated route. In two experiments involving training and transfer phases, we investigated practice effects at the level of individual target presentations, transfer effects associated with changing category-response mappings, target-specific effects from comparisons of old and new targets during transfer, and the percentages of early responses associated with task-nonspecific response selection (the target preceded the task cue on every trial). The training results suggested that the nonmediated route is quickly learned in the context of target-cue order and becomes increasingly involved in response selection with practice. The transfer results suggested that the target-response instances underlying the nonmediated route involve abstract response labels coding response congruency that can be rapidly remapped to alternative responses, but not rewritten when category-response mappings change after practice. Implications for understanding the nonmediated route and its relationship with the mediated route are discussed.

Feature Integration and Task Switching: Diminished Switch Costs after Controlling for Stimulus, Response, and Cue Repetitions

This report presents data from two versions of the task switching procedure in which the separate influence of stimulus repetitions, response key repetitions, conceptual response repetitions, cue repetitions, task repetitions, and congruency are considered. Experiment 1 used a simple alternating runs procedure with parity judgments of digits and consonant/vowel decisions of letters as the two tasks. Results revealed sizable effects of stimulus and response repetitions, and controlling for these effects reduced the switch cost. Experiment 2 was a cued version of the task switch paradigm with parity and magnitude judgments of digits as the two tasks. Results again revealed large effects of stimulus and response repetitions, in addition to cue repetition effects. Controlling for these effects again reduced the switch cost. Congruency did not interact with our novel “unbiased” measure of switch costs. We discuss how the task switch paradigm might be thought of as a more complex version of the feature integration paradigm and propose an episodic learning account of the effect. We further consider to what extent appeals to higher-order control processes might be unnecessary and propose that controls for feature integration biases should be standard practice in task switching experiments.

Executive Function Development

Emerging executive function in childhood, one of the main predictors of major life success, is goal-directed in nature. Yet children’s ability to identify goals (i.e., what should be done) has been underresearched, often because of implicit assumptions that it is trivial even in early childhood. In contrast, I review evidence for goal identification as a major force behind developing executive function. Both increasing attention to environmental cues and increased goal inferencing from these cues drive goal-identification improvement with age. This framework has important implications for assessing and supporting executive function in childhood.

Measuring Diagnostic Skills through the Utilization of Cues

The aim of this paper is to outline a theoretical and empirical case for the role of cue utilization in the cognitive process of diagnosis. Drawing on theories of skill acquisition, the case is made that the utilization of cues represents a critical precursor to the progression toward expertise but that the acquisition and utilization of cues is dependent upon a repertoire of cases and exemplars that have been acquired during the progression from novice to competence. Cases and exemplars form the basis of a mental model from which cues, in the form or feature-event or feature-object relationships, can be identified and retained in memory. The implications of a more sophisticated understanding of the role of cue utilization in skill acquisition will provide the foundation for more effective and more efficient industrial training systems in the future.

Control processes in voluntary and explicitly cued task switching

Explicitly cued task switching slows performance relative to performing the same task on consecutive trials. This effect appears to be due partly to more efficient encoding of the task cue when the same cue is used on consecutive trials and partly to an additional task-switching process. These components were examined by comparing explicitly cued and voluntary task switching groups, with external cues presented to both groups. Cue-switch effects varied in predictable ways to dissociate explicitly cued and voluntary task switching, whereas task-switch effects had similar characteristics for both instructional groups. The data were well fitted by a mathematical model of task switching that included a cue-encoding mechanism (whereby cue repetition improves performance) and an additional process that was invoked on task-switch trials. Analyses of response-time distributions suggest that this additional process involves task-set reconfiguration that may or may not be engaged before the target stimulus is presented.

Expectation mismatch: differences between self-generated and cue-induced expectations

Expectation of upcoming stimuli and tasks can lead to improved performance, if the anticipated situation occurs, while expectation mismatch can lead to less efficient processing. Researchers have used methodological approaches that rely on either self-generated expectations (predictions) or cue-induced expectations to investigate expectation mismatch effects. Differentiating these two types of expectations for different contents of expectation such as stimuli, responses, task sets and conflict level, we review evidence suggesting that self-generated expectations lead to larger facilitating effects and conflict effects on the behavioral and neural level - as compared to cue-based expectations. On a methodological level, we suggest that self-generated as compared to cue-induced expectations allow for a higher amount of experimental control in many experimental designs on expectation effects. On a theoretical level, we argue for qualitative differences in how cues vs. self-generated expectations influence performance. While self-generated expectations might generally involve representing the expected event in the focus of attention in working memory, cues might only lead to such representations under supportive circumstances (i.e., cue of high validity and attended).

Developmental changes in using verbal self-cueing in task-switching situations: the impact of task practice and task-sequencing demands

In this study we examined whether developmental changes in using verbal self-cueing for task-goal maintenance are dependent on the amount of task practice and task-sequencing demands. To measure task-goal maintenance we applied a switching paradigm in which children either performed only task A or B in single-task blocks or switched between them on every second trial in mixed-task blocks. Task-goal maintenance was determined by comparing the performance between both blocks (mixing costs). The influence of verbal self-cueing was measured by instructing children to either name the next task aloud or not to verbalize during task preparation. Task-sequencing demands were varied between groups whereas one group received spatial task cues to support keeping track of the task sequence, while the other group did not. We also varied by the amount of prior practice in task switching while one group of participants practiced task switching first, before performing the task naming in addition, and the other group did it vice versa. Results of our study investigating younger (8–10 years) and older children (11–13 years) revealed no age differences in beneficial effects of verbal self-cueing. In line with previous findings, children showed reduced mixing costs under task-naming instructions and under conditions of low task-sequence demands (with the presence of spatial task cues). Our results also indicated that these benefits were only obtained for those groups of children that first received practice in task switching alone with no additional verbalization instruction. These findings suggest that internal task-cueing strategies can be efficiently used in children but only if they received prior practice in the underlying task so that demands on keeping and coordinating various instructions are reduced. Moreover, children benefitted from spatial task cues for better task-goal maintenance only if no verbal task-cueing strategy was introduced first.

Qualitative change in executive control during childhood and adulthood

Executive control development typically has been conceptualized to result from quantitative changes in the efficiency of the underlying processes. In contrast, the present study addressed the possibility of qualitative change with age by examining how children and adults detect task switches. Participants in three age groups (5- and 10-year-old children, young adults) completed two conditions of a cued task-switching paradigm where task cues were presented either in isolation or in conjunction with transition cues. Five-year-olds performed better with transition cues, whereas the reverse effect was observed at age 10 and with adults. Unlike 5-year-olds who detect switches after semantically processing cues, older participants strategically detect switches based on perceptual processing only. Age-related qualitative changes promote increasingly optimal adjustment of executive resources with age.

A Review of the Role of Cue Processing in Task Switching

The role of cue processing has become a controversial topic in research on cognitive control using task-switching procedures. Some authors suggested a priming account to explain switch costs as a form of encoding benefit when the cue from the previous trial is repeated and hence challenged theories that attribute task-switch costs to task-set (re)configuration. A rich body of empirical evidence has evolved that indeed shows that cue-encoding repetition priming is an important component in task switching. However, these studies also demonstrate that there are usually substantial “true” task-switch costs. Here, we review this behavioral, electrophysiological, and brain imaging evidence. Moreover, we describe alternative approaches to the explicit task-cuing procedure, such as the usage of transition cues or the task-span procedure. In addition, we address issues related to the type of cue, such as cue transparency. We also discuss methodological and theoretical implications and argue that the explicit task-cuing procedure is suitable to address issues of cognitive control and task-set switching.

Tracking the Multitasking Mind

Task switching paradigms examining executive control in multitask environments typically measure reaction time and accuracy from key press responses. The discrete nature of such responses may limit the ability to capture the dynamics of cognitive control processes that unfold over time in complex environments. The current study used computer mouse tracking methodology to measure the processes that occur during task switching. In two experiments mouse trajectory data were collected as participants used onscreen category labels to respond to two simple tasks. The application of mouse tracking methodology to cued task switching provided both a replication of previous findings using key press responses and a more sensitive measure of the cognitive processes and activated representations underlying those effects. Computer mouse tracking offers a novel methodology for uncovering the mental representations and processes unfolding during multitasking.

Differential effects of articulatory suppression on cue-switch and task-switch trials in random task cueing with 2:1 mapping

Recent studies have revealed that verbal representations play an important role in various task-switching situations. This study examined whether verbal representations contribute to the actual switching process using random task cueing with two cues per task. This procedure allowed us to produce a trial in which the cue switched, but the task repeated, thereby separating the cue-switching process from the actual task-switching process. Participants performed colour or shape judgements that were initiated by an arbitrary symbol cue (Experiments 1 and 2) or a kanji cue (Experiment 3) under control, articulatory-suppression, and foot-tapping conditions. In Experiments 1 and 2 with the arbitrary cues, articulatory suppression impaired performance in only the cue-switch condition. In Experiment 3, in which a kanji cue indicated the upcoming task name, articulatory suppression did not have any effects. These results suggest that the involvement of verbal representations in random task cueing is based on the cue-switching process rather than on the task-switching process.

The processes underlying flexibility in childhood

It is now well established in the adult literature that the ability to engage in flexible thought and action is a complex skill that relies on a number of underlying processes. The development of this skill has received growing interest in recent years. However, theories explaining children's ability to switch between different tasks typically focus on a single underlying process and are rarely extended to explain development beyond the preschool years. This article reviews the current literature on set shifting in children in comparison with task switching in adults, in order to highlight the range of factors that impact on children's ability to flexibly shift between tasks. In doing this we hope to set the scene for future research that can begin to establish the relationships between these processes and how they change with age.

Automaticity without extensive training: the role of memory retrieval in implementation of task-defined rules

Although the concept of automaticity is closely associated with extensive rote training, previous studies have shown that task-defined stimulus-response (S-R) mappings can be implemented in parallel and involuntarily, without much training, as if they are automatically processed. An irrelevant task context may trigger a task-defined rule because the rule is actively maintained in working memory, resulting in erroneous implementation of that rule. However, the present study demonstrated that active maintenance of task rules is not necessary for their automatic implementation. Instead, the results are consistent with the memory view of automaticity, according to which task-defined S-R rules are implemented via automatic retrieval of S-R episodes.

Switch detection in preschoolers' cognitive flexibility

The current study addressed the role of switch detection in cognitive flexibility by testing the effect of transition cues (i.e., cues that directly signal the need to switch or maintain a given task goal) in a cued set-shifting paradigm at 5 years of age. Children performed better, especially on switch trials, when transition cues were combined with traditional task cues (i.e., cues that directly signal the relevant task on a given trial) relative to conditions without transition cues. This effect was not influenced by explicit knowledge of transition cues or transition cue transparency, suggesting that transition cues did not need to be semantically processed to be beneficial. These findings reveal that young children's difficulties in set-shifting situations stem partially from failures to monitor for the need to switch.

A memory-based model of Hick's law

We propose and evaluate a memory-based model of Hick's law, the approximately linear increase in choice reaction time with the logarithm of set size (the number of stimulus-response alternatives). According to the model, Hick's law reflects a combination of associative interference during retrieval from declarative memory and occasional savings for stimulus-response repetitions due to non-retrieval. Fits to existing data sets show that the model accounts for the basic set-size effect, changes in the set-size effect with practice, and stimulus-response repetition effects that challenge the information-theoretic view of Hick's law. We derive the model's prediction of an interaction between set size, stimulus fan (the number of responses associated with a particular stimulus), and stimulus-response transition, which is subsequently tested and confirmed in two experiments. Collectively, the results support the core structure of the model and its explanation of Hick's law in terms of basic memory effects.

The representational locus of spatial influence on backward inhibition

When one is sequentially switching among three tasks, performance is impaired when tasks alternate (ABA) relative to when one is switching between all three tasks (CBA), an effect known as backward inhibition (BI). BI is not observed when component tasks are uniquely located in space, however (Arbuthnott, 2005). In this study, the locations of task precues and target stimuli were manipulated independently to determine whether this elimination of BI is related to distinct cue location or to distinct target location. Results clearly indicated that BI is eliminated with distinct cue localization independent of the location of target stimuli. This indicates that BI, which reflects suppression of task-set representations, can be influenced by cue characteristics that are associated with task representations.

Selecting a response in task switching: testing a model of compound cue retrieval

How can a task-appropriate response be selected for an ambiguous target stimulus in task-switching situations? One answer is to use compound cue retrieval, whereby stimuli serve as joint retrieval cues to select a response from long-term memory. In the present study, the authors tested how well a model of compound cue retrieval could account for a complex pattern of congruency effects arising from a procedure in which a cue, prime, and target were presented on each trial. A comparison of alternative models of prime-based effects revealed that the best model was one in which all stimuli participated directly in the process of retrieving a response, validating previous modeling efforts. Relations to current theorizing about response congruency effects and models of response selection in task switching are discussed.

Neural correlates of cue retrieval, task set reconfiguration, and rule mapping in the explicit cue task switching paradigm

Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were used in two experiments to examine the neural correlates of processes underlying task switching in the information-reduction task switching paradigm. Each experiment included 22 participants. The paradigm included two cues for each task. This element of the design allowed us to differentiate the ERP correlates of cue retrieval, task set reconfiguration, and rule mapping. The ERP data revealed a parietal slow wave that was sensitive to processes associated with cue retrieval and task set reconfiguration and a frontal-polar slow wave that was sensitive to processes associated with rule mapping. These findings further the proposal that an endogenous act of control supporting processes related to task set reconfiguration and rule mapping may facilitate performance of the explicit cue task switching paradigm.