Data Archive of "Does temporal predictability of tasks influence task choice?"

Task performance improves when the required tasks are predicted by the preceding time intervals, suggesting that participants form time-based task expectancies. In the present study, we pursued the question whether temporal predictability of tasks can also influence task choice. For this purpose, we conducted three experiments using a hybrid task switching paradigm (with two tasks) combining forced-choice and free-choice trials. Each trial was preceded by either a short (500 ms) or a long (1500 ms) foreperiod. In forced-choice trials, the instructed task was predicted by the length of the foreperiod (Exp. 1A and 1B: 100 % foreperiod-task contingencies; Exp. 2: 80 % foreperiod-task contingencies). In the remaining trials, participants were free to choose which task to perform. In all three experiments, we found that participants’ task choice was influenced by the foreperiod-task contingencies implemented in forced-choice trials. Specifically, participants were overall biased to choose tasks compatible with these contingencies; these compatible choice rates were larger for the short compared to the long foreperiod. Our findings suggest that learned time-based task expectancies influence subjects’ voluntary task choice and that an initially present task bias toward the “short” task is not always overcome at the long foreperiod. We discuss potential underlying mechanisms against the background of voluntary task switching and interval timing

Performance-contingent reward increases the use of congruent distracting information

In conflict tasks like the Simon task, participants are instructed to respond to a task-relevant target dimension while ignoring additional distracting information. In the Simon task the distracting spatial information can be congruent or incongruent with the task-relevant target information, causing a congruency effect. As seen in the proportion congruency effect and the congruency sequence effect, this congruency effect is larger in mostly congruent blocks and following congruent trials, respectively. Common theories suggest that when the proportion of incongruent trials is high or after an incongruent trial, focus on the task-relevant target information is increased and distracting information is inhibited. In two experiments, we investigated how reward modulates these phenomena. Specifically, performance-contingent reward – but not non-contingent reward – increased the usage of the distracting information in mostly congruent blocks or following congruent trials, while the adaptation to incongruency (i.e., mostly incongruent blocks or preceding incongruent trials) was the same in all conditions. Additional diffusion model analyses found that this effect of performance-contingent reward was captured by the drift rate parameter. These results suggest an increased focus on the target information by incongruent trials independent from reward, while the adaptation to (mostly) congruent trials characterized by increased usage of distracting information can be motivationally boosted. That is, performance-contingent reward increases the use of congruent distracting information beyond a mere relaxation of the increased target-focus following (mostly) congruent trials

Are You Keeping an Eye on Me? The Influence of Competition and Cooperation on Joint Simon Task Performance

Social interaction plays an important role in human life. While there are instances that require cooperation, there are others that force people to compete rather than to cooperate, in order to achieve certain goals. A key question is how the deployment of attention differs between cooperative and competitive situation; however, empirical investigations have yielded inconsistent results. By manipulating the (in-)dependence of individuals via performance-contingent incentives, in a visual go–nogo Simon task the current study aimed at improving our understanding of complementary task performance in a joint action context. In the independent condition each participant received what s/he achieves; in the cooperative condition each participant received the half of what both achieved, and in the competitive condition participants were instructed that the winner takes it all. Extending previous findings, we found sequential processing adjustments of the Simon effect as a function of the interdependency (i.e., competition, cooperation) and transition between (i.e., go–nogo requirements) interacting individuals. While sequential processing adjustments of the Simon effect in both the competition and cooperation condition were unaffected when alternating between responsible actors (i.e., nogo–go transition), sequential processing adjustments were enlarged under competition for repeating responsibilities of one and the same actor (i.e., go–go transitions). In other words, the prospect of performance-contingent reward in a competitive context exclusively impacts flexible behavioral adjustments of one’s own actions. Rather than fostering the consideration and differentiation of the other actor, pushing one’s own performance to the limit appears to be the suitable strategy in competitive instances of complementary tasks. Therefore, people keep their eyes on themselves when aiming at beating a co-actor and emerging as the winner

How positive affect modulates proactive control: reduced usage of informative cues under positive affect with low arousal

An example of proactive control is the usage of informative cues to prepare for an upcoming task. Here the authors will present data from a series of three experiments, showing that positive affect along with low arousal reduces proactive control in form of a reduced reliance on informative cues. In three affect groups, neutral or positive affective picture stimuli with low and high arousal preceded every trial. In Experiments 1 and 2, using a simple response cueing paradigm with informative cues (66% cue validity), a reduced cue validity effect (CVE) was found under positive affect with low arousal. To test the robustness of the effect and to see whether reactive control is also modulated by positive affect, Experiment 3 used a cued task switching paradigm with predicitive cues (75% cue validity). As expected, a reduced CVE was again found specifically in the positive affect condition with low arousal, but only for task repetitions. Furthermore, there was no difference in switch costs between affect groups (with and without task cues). Taken together, the reduced CVE indicates that positive affect with low arousal reduces proactive control, while comparable switch costs suggest that there is no influence of positive affect on reactive control

How positive affect modulates cognitive control: New insights into the specificity of positive affect effects

Converging evidence suggests that positive affect modulates cognitive control by increasing cognitive flexibility. The present thesis is aimed to shed further light on this relationship between positive affect and cognitive control by investigating possible influences of arousal (Part I), dissociating between proactive and reactive control (Part II), and testing an increased novelty bias under positive affect (Part III). Arousal differences between positive affective states were manipulated by inducing affect via pictures from the International Affective Picture System. Furthermore, different paradigms including informative cues, non-informative cues, or no cues at all were used to dissociate between proactive and reactive control, because only in situations with informative cues performance can be optimized by using a proactive control strategy. Finally, an experiment using a Stroop-like word-picture interference task with familiar and new distractors was run to gather evidence for an increased novelty bias under positive affect. Results showed very specific influences of positive affect on cognitive control, thereby exceeding the existing literature: Specifically positive affect with low arousal as compared to positive affect with high arousal was found to reduce proactive control. In contrast, the present data showed no evidence for an affective modulation of reactive control. Moreover, Part III of the present thesis succeeded in presenting first empirical evidence for an increased novelty bias under positive affect with low arousal. All results will be discussed with respect to the existing literature on positive affect and cognitive control

Data archive of "How sequential changes in reward magnitude modulate cognitive flexibility: Evidence from voluntary task switching", Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition

Raw data archive with coding shee

Data archive of "You can(’t) always get what you want: When goal persistence requires flexibility"

Raw data files with description/ Rohdaten mit Beschreibung. The main article "You can(’t) always get what you want: When goal persistence requires flexibility" is published in the journal Motivation Science

The differential influences of positive affect, random reward, and performance-contingent reward on cognitive control

Growing evidence suggests that positive affect and reward have differential effects on cognitive control. So far, however, these effects have never been studied together. Here, the authors present one behavioral study investigating the influences of positive affect and reward (contingent and noncontingent) on proactive control. A modified version of the AX-continuous performance task, which has repeatedly been shown to be sensitive to reward and affect manipulations, was used. In a first phase, two experimental groups received either neutral or positive affective pictures before every trial. In a second phase, the two halves of a given affect group additionally received, respectively, performance-contingent or random rewards. The results replicated the typical affect effect, in terms of reduced proactive control under positive as compared to neutral affect. Also, the typical reward effects associated with increased proactive control were replicated. Most interestingly, performance-contingent reward counteracted the positive affect effect, whereas random reward mirrored that effect. In sum, this study provides first evidence that performance-contingent reward, on the one hand, and positive affect and performance-noncontingent reward, on the other hand, have oppositional effects on cognitive control: Only performance-contingent reward showed a motivational effect in terms of a strategy shift toward increased proactive control, whereas positive affect alone and performance-noncontingent reward reduced proactive control. Moreover, the integrative design of this study revealed the vulnerability of positive affect effects to motivational manipulations. The results are discussed with respect to current neuroscientific theories of the effects of dopamine on affect, reward, and cognitive control

Data archive of "How sequentially changing reward prospect modulates meta-control: Increasing reward prospect promotes cognitive flexibility", Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience

Data archive with coding sheet and raw data for Experiments 1, 2, and