Target switch costs in visual search arise during the preparatory activation of target templates

Grubert, A. and Wang, Z. and Eimer, Martin (2024) Target switch costs in visual search arise during the preparatory activation of target templates. Psychophysiology , ISSN 0048-5772.

Abstract

Prior research on task switching has shown that the reconfiguration of stimulus-response mappings across trials is associated with behavioural switch costs. Here, we investigated the effects of switching representations of target-defining features in visual search (attentional templates). Participants searched for one of two colour-defined target objects that changed predictably every two trials (Experiment 1) or every four trials (Experiment 2). Substantial costs were observed for search performance on target switch relative to target repeat trials. Preparatory target template activation processes were tracked by measuring N2pc components (indicative of attentional capture) to a rapid series of task-irrelevant colour singleton probes that appeared during the interval between search displays, and either matched the currently relevant or the other target colour. N2pcs to relevant target colour probes emerged from 800ms before search display onset on target repetition trials, reflecting the activation of a corresponding colour template. Crucially, probe N2pcs only emerged immediately before target onset on target switch trials, indicating that preparatory template activation was strongly delayed. In contrast, irrelevant colour singleton probes did not trigger N2pcs on either repeat or switch trials, suggesting the absence of any target template inertia across trials. These results show that switching the identity of search targets delays preparatory target template activation and impairs subsequent attentional guidance processes. They suggest that performance costs on switch versus repeat trials are associated with differences in the time course of task preparation.

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