PSY 281: Cognitive Psychology

Lab 5

Task Switching

Please read all information under "Completing the Task Switching Task" before actually doing the task.

Completing the Task Switching Task (Alternating Runs Version):

Please complete Task Switching Task (Alternating Runs) found here: https://www.psytoolkit.org/experiment-library/taskswitching.html

HINT: To aid responding, you may want to place your left index finger on "B" and right index finger on "N".

When you are finished, you will see a screen with some summary data. Take a picture of/screenshot this screen. Here is mine:

When you press the space bar, your data will appear in an .html table. Please take a screenshot of your data OR copy and paste into Excel.

You will need to include this information in your lab assignment.

Data are reported in 10 columns:

1. Block. The block of trials. "Letters" involved only letter training trials; "Numbers" were only number training trials; "Mixed" were test trials where letter and number judgments alternated.
2. Position. The position of the stimulus (1 = top left; 2 = top right; 3 = bottom right; 4 = bottom left).
3. Task Type. Whether the judgment was for letters or numbers (1 = letters; 2 = numbers).
4. Letter Stimulus. A numeric code that corresponds to the letter displayed.
5. Number Stimulus. A numeric code that corresponds to the number displayed.
6. Block Type. A numeric code for the block (0 = alternating test trials; 1 = letter only training trials; 2 = number only trials).
7. Switch. Whether the task repeated or switched from the previous trial (1 = task switch, 0 = task repeated).
8. Accuracy. 1 = correct, 2 = wrong, 3 = too slow (timeout)
9. Response Time (in milliseconds). How long it took you to respond in ms.
10. Release Time (in milliseconds). How long it took you to release the response button. (Looking at my own data, I think this measurement is wonky, so we won't be doing anything with it.)

Questions to answer for your lab assignment:

1. Research Design
   1. What is/are the IV(s) in this study? What are the levels? (Please consider only "test" trials, not training)
   2. What is/are the DV(s) in this study?
2. Data Analysis
   1. Please attach your data (the summary screen and your table containing trial-by-trial data).
   2. Hint: You may want to sort your data in Excel by Block (or Block Type), Switch, and by Accuracy. If you are not sure how to sort in Excel, please see this video.
   3. For the following questions, please feel free to answer with a table:
      1. How many trials did you experience in training and at each level of the IV?
      2. What was your accuracy for these trials?
      3. What was your average (mean) reaction time for ALL trials in training and within each level of the IV? (The screenshot of summary data contains averages for correct trials, so your calculations should match the summary screenshot only if you responded correctly to all trials within the training or a level of the IV.)
      4. What was your standard deviation (SD) for reaction time across all trials for training and for each level of the IV?
      5. Task Switch Cost is the cost of switching from one task to another. So, we would expect to see slower RTs (higher numbers) for switch trials than for repeated trials. What is your Task Switch Cost (Average RT Mixed-Switch - Average RT Mixed-Repeated)? Calculate this for all trials (averages for correct trials are within the summary data screenshot). If the number is negative, you are responding more quickly to switch trials than to repeated trials. If the number is positive, you are responding more quickly to repeated trials than switch trials (this would be a switch cost because it adds time to a judgment).
3. Interpretation
   1. How would you interpret your performance? Be sure to discuss how your standard deviations differ across the levels of your IV.
   2. Did you demonstrate a Task Switch Cost? Explain.
   3. Let's say that data from a group were:

Condition	Average RT (ms)	SD RT (ms)
Mixed-Repeated	873	248
Mixed-Switch	1689	561

How did you perform relative to the group? Were your Mean RTs within 1 SD around the mean? 2 SD around the mean? How do you know?

1. Application
   1. You probably noticed that the location of the alternating (or "mixed") trials occurred in a predictable clockwise pattern (top left, top right, bottom right, bottom left). Do you think this pattern helped you, impaired you, or didn't affect your responding? Explain fully.
   2. Some cognitive psychologists have estimated that only 2.5% of the population are good at multitasking. Do you think you are one of the 2.5%? Why or why not?

Help out please

Link: https://www.psytoolkit.org/experiment-library/taskswitching.html

there is claer info here please help