Memory & Cognition

Human cognition is noteworthy in its ability to deal with changes in environments and behavioral goals with apparent ease and flexibility. This ability can be seen in situations that demand sequential performance of two or more tasks, each of which may place very different de-mands on the perceptual, cognitive, and response sys-tems. Selection and performance of a single task in the face of competing behavioral possibilities is thought to involve a combination of executive control and automatic processes (Logan, 1985; Norman & Shallice, 1986; Pos-ner & Snyder, 1975). There has been a recent flurry of in-terest in studying these processes with the use of the task switching paradigm (Jersild, 1927). Task Switching The task switching paradigm involves simple tasks in