How do we switch between tasks? In everyday life, numerous cognitive tasks occur simultaneously which require us to implement in parallel, or in prompt alternation (Hallowell, 2007).

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How do we switch between tasks?

In everyday life, numerous cognitive tasks occur simultaneously which require us to implement in parallel, or in prompt alternation (Hallowell, 2007). The ability to rapidly switch between two or more cognitive tasks is known as task switching (Allport, Styles & Hsieh, 1994). For the last century, various of task switching paradigms have been established in the laboratory setting and uncover relevant function of executive control processes: executing new or partially learned tasks (Shiffrin & Schneider, 1977), prohibiting unwanted overlearned responses to Stroop stimuli (Monsell, 1996) and in shifting from competing one task to another ( Allport, Styles, & Hseih, 1994; Rogers &Monsell, 1995); These paradigms usually require subjects to accomplish a set of simple tasks in a repeating or alternating sequence(e.g., Jersild, 1927). Many task-switching paradigm studies (e.g. Monsell, 2003; Allport, Styles & Hsieh, 1994) found there are some consistently basic phenomena of task switching revealed as longer reaction time (RT) and more error-prone performances when subjects respond to switching (AB/BA) than repetition trials(AA/BB).These deficits in latencies of RT and accuracy are known as the 'switch cost' (Sohn , Ursu , Anderson, Stenger & Carter, 2000),which can be reduced by preparing upcoming