Task specific coding of actions

Viac o knihe

The present work examines how actions are represented in a task-specific manner, noting that changes in task context alter the representation of the same action and lead to interference between previous and current representations. This interference was studied in a dual-task scenario using two choice reaction-time tasks with identical response alternatives. The key finding revealed that changing the task context resulted in costs when repeating the same response, whereas no such costs were observed when the task context remained constant. The first part of the study explored the timing of this interference through a psychological refractory period (PRP) paradigm and investigated whether it occurred across different response modalities, suggesting interference at the level of abstract action representations. The second part focused on the functional locus of the interference, aiming to determine if it occurred during response selection or later processes, such as motor or monitoring processes. This was achieved using a change-signal paradigm and a response-grouping paradigm. The findings led to the proposal of a mechanism for action recoding, emphasizing the importance of considering the task specificity of action representations in understanding human action control mechanisms.