Extensive practice does not eliminate human switch costs

Abstract

Numerous human task-switching studies have shown that decision making that follows a task switch is slower and less accurate than that which follows a task repetition. Stoet and Snyder (2003a) tested humans and rhesus monkeys on a task-switching paradigm, but found, surprisingly, no switch costs in the monkeys. We hypothesized that the exceptional monkey behavior may have been due to the more extensive practice the monkeys received in comparison with human subjects. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that extensive practice can abolish switch costs in humans. Four human subjects each performed 23,000 trials in a task-switching paradigm. We found that this amount of practice does not abolish switch costs. Copyright 2007 Psychonomic Society, Inc.