Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MSc)

Department

Psychology

Faculty/School

Faculty of Science

First Advisor

Jeffrey A. Jones

Advisor Role

Thesis Supervisor

Abstract

Research on task-switching has shown that when participants are asked to switch between two different tasks, they are slower than when they repeat the same task. These costs have also been shown to increase when the previous response is repeated; however, very little has been done to investigate the role of response complexity in this relationship. We manipulated response complexity by increasing both the number of stimulus-response pairs and the number of individual response components. We hypothesized that increased response complexity would increase both the switch costs and the response repetition effect. Results indicated that increasing the number of S-R pairs increased subsequent switch costs, but only during certain contexts. We also determined that increasing the number of individual response components increased the response repetition effect, suggesting that more response inhibition occurred when more response components were needed. Taken together, these findings provide evidence that response complexity impacts task-switching behaviour.

Convocation Year

2009

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