Electrophysiological evidence for retrieval mode immediately after a task switch

It has been suggested that retrieving episodic information can involve adopting a cognitive state or set: retrieval mode. In a series of studies, an event-related potential (ERP) index of retrieval mode has been identified in designs which cue participants on a trial-by-trial basis to switch between...

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Main Authors: Evans, Lisa H., Williams, Angharad N., Wilding, Edward L.
Format: Article
Published: Elsevier 2015
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Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34063/
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author Evans, Lisa H.
Williams, Angharad N.
Wilding, Edward L.
author_facet Evans, Lisa H.
Williams, Angharad N.
Wilding, Edward L.
author_sort Evans, Lisa H.
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description It has been suggested that retrieving episodic information can involve adopting a cognitive state or set: retrieval mode. In a series of studies, an event-related potential (ERP) index of retrieval mode has been identified in designs which cue participants on a trial-by-trial basis to switch between preparing for and then completing an episodic or non-episodic retrieval task. However, a confound in these studies is that along with task type the content of what is to be retrieved has varied. Here we examined whether the ERP index of retrieval mode remains when the contents of an episodic and non-episodic task are highly similar – both requiring a location judgement. In the episodic task participants indicated the screen location where words had been shown in a prior study phase (left/right/new); whereas in the perceptual task they indicated the current screen location of the word (top/middle/bottom). Consistent with previous studies the ERPs elicited while participants prepared for episodic retrievalwere more positive-going at right-frontal sites than when they prepared for the perceptual task. This indexwas observed, however, on the first trial after participants had switched tasks, rather than on the second trial, as has been observed previously. Potential reasons for this are discussed, including the critical manipulation of similarity in contents between tasks, as well as the use of a predictable cue sequence.
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spelling nottingham-340632020-05-04T20:09:33Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34063/ Electrophysiological evidence for retrieval mode immediately after a task switch Evans, Lisa H. Williams, Angharad N. Wilding, Edward L. It has been suggested that retrieving episodic information can involve adopting a cognitive state or set: retrieval mode. In a series of studies, an event-related potential (ERP) index of retrieval mode has been identified in designs which cue participants on a trial-by-trial basis to switch between preparing for and then completing an episodic or non-episodic retrieval task. However, a confound in these studies is that along with task type the content of what is to be retrieved has varied. Here we examined whether the ERP index of retrieval mode remains when the contents of an episodic and non-episodic task are highly similar – both requiring a location judgement. In the episodic task participants indicated the screen location where words had been shown in a prior study phase (left/right/new); whereas in the perceptual task they indicated the current screen location of the word (top/middle/bottom). Consistent with previous studies the ERPs elicited while participants prepared for episodic retrievalwere more positive-going at right-frontal sites than when they prepared for the perceptual task. This indexwas observed, however, on the first trial after participants had switched tasks, rather than on the second trial, as has been observed previously. Potential reasons for this are discussed, including the critical manipulation of similarity in contents between tasks, as well as the use of a predictable cue sequence. Elsevier 2015-03 Article PeerReviewed Evans, Lisa H., Williams, Angharad N. and Wilding, Edward L. (2015) Electrophysiological evidence for retrieval mode immediately after a task switch. NeuroImage, 108 . pp. 435-440. ISSN 1095-9572 Retrieval mode; Episodic memory; Task-switching; Event-related potentials (ERPs); Task-set; Retrieval preparation http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811914010738 doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.12.068 doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.12.068
spellingShingle Retrieval mode; Episodic memory; Task-switching; Event-related potentials (ERPs); Task-set; Retrieval preparation
Evans, Lisa H.
Williams, Angharad N.
Wilding, Edward L.
Electrophysiological evidence for retrieval mode immediately after a task switch
title Electrophysiological evidence for retrieval mode immediately after a task switch
title_full Electrophysiological evidence for retrieval mode immediately after a task switch
title_fullStr Electrophysiological evidence for retrieval mode immediately after a task switch
title_full_unstemmed Electrophysiological evidence for retrieval mode immediately after a task switch
title_short Electrophysiological evidence for retrieval mode immediately after a task switch
title_sort electrophysiological evidence for retrieval mode immediately after a task switch
topic Retrieval mode; Episodic memory; Task-switching; Event-related potentials (ERPs); Task-set; Retrieval preparation
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34063/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34063/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34063/