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...ng Cost 625 Mixing cost is the finding that performance is often better in a pure-task context than in a mixed-task context (e.g., Koch, Prinz, & Allport, 2005; Meiran, 2000; Poljac et al., in press; =-=Rubin & Meiran, 2005-=-; Waszak et al., 2003). One especially relevant example is Experiment 1 of Waszak et al. (2003). In their design, the experimental session started with a block of pure-task runs, which was followed by...

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...ry for maintaining two competing task/response sets, for monitoring the task cued or for a process of task decision on each trial (Braver, Reynolds and Donaldson, 2003; Koch, Prinz and Allport, 2005; =-=Rubin and Meiran, 2005-=-). Conversely, switching costs have been described as arising from more transient control processes necessary for selecting the appropriate task, such as goal updating, or linking task cues with the a...

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...ed to task-switching costs, and that the memory for goals model provided a more compelling explanation for resumption costs. Mixing cost evidence from the taskswitching literature (see Monsell, 2003; =-=Rubin & Meiran, 2005-=-), however, provided an alternative theoretical explanation for the duration effect that was important to consider. Mixing costs are those costs associated with maintaining multiple task sets in worki...

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...2003). Had this been true, one would predict a TRCE even in single-task conditions that follow task switching, and this did not happen in Yehene et al.’s study (see also the single-task conditions in =-=Rubin & Meiran, 2005-=-). Accordingly, two recent works (Koch & Allport, 2006; Waszak & Hommel, 2007) have suggested that the unintentional retrieval of task sets operates at the abstract task level and not at the level of ...

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...on. Switching from one task to another requires executive control for a reconfiguration of the cognitive task set, a process that has often been found to increase RTs on task-switch trials compared to taskrepetition trials (e.g., Allport, Styles, & Hsieh, 1994; Rogers & Monsell, 1995). Alternatively, RTs on task-repetition trials typically increase single-task RTs (e.g., Koch, Prinz, & Allport, 2005). This increase indicates executive control for resolving stimulus conflicts between tasks when intermixed within one block, in contrast to isolated task performance within single-task situations (Rubin & Meiran, 2005); note that the same set of stimuli is typically used in both tasks resulting in ambiguous bottom-up activation of competing task sets. A potential improvement of executive control skills may speed-up these processes while practicing action video games that require the coordination of and switching between multiple gamerelated actions. A comparison of switch, repetition, and single-task RTs provides an opportunity to analyze this speed-up and, therefore, to test the practice-related improvement of executive control skills in the task switching test. While the effect of video game practice on d...

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... language and mixed language blocks, respectively. RTs in color versus shape judgments did not differ significantly for any of the participant groups, and so we collapsed across this factor (see also =-=Rubin & Meiran, 2005-=-). Task-Switching To determine whether bilinguals completed task-switching more efficiently than monolinguals we conducted a repeated measures analysis of variance with language group as a between sub...

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...rrent focus was on error rates, we also analyzed RTs. For these analyses, we focused on preparation effects and the influence of task switching. To examine preparation effects, we varied the task cue-totarget interval (CTI). To examine the influence of task switching, we focused on two comparisons. One comparison was between task-switch and task-repetition trials, both coming from blocks involving task switching. This effect is termed ‘‘switching cost.’’ The other comparison was between task repetition trials and a block involving a single task. This effect is termed ‘‘task mixing cost’’ (see Rubin & Meiran, 2005, and Los, 1996, for reviews). Based on the literature on PD, we predicted that the BG patients would exhibit an increased PE in incongruent trials (Yehene et al., 2005; Meiran et al., 2004). We also predicted an increased task mixing cost (MC) in the PFC group based on Aron, Monsell, Sahakian, and Robbins (2004) and Keele and Rafal (2000). With respect to switch costs (switch vs. repeat), it was not possible to form clear predictions because of the mixed results in the literature. For example, Witt et al. (2006), Shook et al. (2005, the off-medication group), Pollux (2004), and Cools, Barker,...

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...ckled the question above by looking into object mixing costs. The term mixing cost is borrowed from the task switching literature (Fagot, 1994; Meiran, 2000; cf. Kray & Lindenberger, 2000; Los, 1996; =-=Rubin & Meiran, 2005-=-). The task mixing cost is the performance decrement observed in conditions involving more than one task compared with single-task conditions. Like the task mixing cost, which results from the presenc...

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...ask to execute. Shaff er was also the fi rst researcher who compared three conditions in the same experiment. Th ese include a condition with a single task, and two conditions from the blocks that involved task switching: task-switch trials, in which the task has just switched, and task-repetition trials, in which the current task was the same as the previously executed task. Th is design allows one to separate two costs associated with switching tasks, later discussed by Braver et al. (2003); Fagot (1994), Kray and Lindenberger (2000), Koch et al. (2005), Los (1996), Meiran et al. (2000) and Rubin and Meiran (2005), among others. Th e fi rst is “switch cost” and it refers to the difference between task-switch and task-repetition trials. Th e second is “mixing cost” and it refers to the cost associated with being in a situation involving potential switching. Mixing cost is defi ned as the performance diff erence between task-repetition trials (taken from blocks in which the tasks switch) and single-task blocks. TASK SWITCHING PARADIGMS Although researchers oft en refer to the task switching paradigm, there are, in fact, many diff erent paradigms, and it still remains to be shown whether these paradigms t...

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...of the mixed block. We evaluated mixing costs, contrasting simple trials and no-switch trials of the mixed block, as this computation mode has been shown to be particularly sensitive to goal setting (=-=Rubin & Meiran, 2005-=-), and it avoids including costs due to the switching process. Analyses comparing simple-block trials with all mixed-block trials (global costs) led to similar results as mixing costs and thus are not...