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Gepubliceerd in: Psychological Research 7/2019

05-04-2018 | Original Article

When less is more: costs and benefits of varied vs. fixed content and structure in short-term task switching training

Auteurs: Katrina Sabah, Thomas Dolk, Nachshon Meiran, Gesine Dreisbach

Gepubliceerd in: Psychological Research | Uitgave 7/2019

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Abstract

Training variability has been brought forward as one possible moderator for wider scale transfer effects in cognitive training. However, little is known about which aspects of task variability are important for optimizing training outcomes. This study systematically examined the impact of variability in the different task components on outcome measures, here manipulating content (whether the task stimuli remained fixed or changed between blocks) and the deeper structural task configuration (task sequence: whether the task sequence was fixed or random). Short-term task switching training was implemented with one of four training variability conditions: fixed content\fixed structure; fixed content\ random structure; varied content\fixed structure and varied content\varied structure. The experiment consisted of a baseline block, seven training blocks (learning phase), followed by two transfer blocks, one with fixed and one with random task structure, respectively. In the learning phase, more rapid training gains were observed in the fixed content as compared to varied content. Interestingly, training with fixed content resulted in a trend for costs when transferred to a novel task switching context. In contrast, moderate transfer gains were noted in the varied content condition, manifested specifically on switch trials. These results suggest that task (content) variability is one of the means to improve positive transfer and avoid negative transfer. Additionally, and in agreement with the wide literature on training, this finding suggests that conditions that prevent training gains are in fact beneficial for learning generalization.
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1
We used univalent stimuli and non-interfering task rules for two reasons: Given the complexity of the design, we did not want to include another factor (i.e., task rule congruency). Moreover, if we had used bivalent stimuli, we would have needed an additional task cue at least for the group with varied structure which would have made the comparison between these groups more difficult. Note that there is broad evidence that univalent stimuli also produce reliable switch costs, especially when introduced with the corresponding task rule (e.g., Dreisbach et al., 2007; Dreisbach, 2012).
 
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Metagegevens
Titel
When less is more: costs and benefits of varied vs. fixed content and structure in short-term task switching training
Auteurs
Katrina Sabah
Thomas Dolk
Nachshon Meiran
Gesine Dreisbach
Publicatiedatum
05-04-2018
Uitgeverij
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Gepubliceerd in
Psychological Research / Uitgave 7/2019
Print ISSN: 0340-0727
Elektronisch ISSN: 1430-2772
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-018-1006-7

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