The role of response modalities in task switching

Cognitive psychology usually examines performance of subjects in different experimental tasks. However, there is no consensus as regards how a “task” can be defined. In many experiments the requirement to categorize a stimulus is equated with the term task. A study of the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences demonstrates that the modality of a response (e.g. verbal or manual responses) is equally important for the definition of a task. The results provide evidence that the same cognitive processes underlie switching between response modalities and switching between stimulus categories.