The purpose of this study was to examine the role of prior information on task switching performance. Prior information about the task helps prepare the task. However, remembering the information potentially increases the working memory load and therefore is possible to degrade the task performance. This study investigated the effect of remembering prior information related to tasks in terms of working memory loads on task switching performance.
Experiment 1 investigated whether remembering low load prior information helps to task switching performance in terms of repetition and switching. In this experiment, information types (cue condition, memory+cue condition, memory condition) and task transition (repetition, switching) were manipulated. Experiment 1 showed that the performance of the conditions with prior information, regardless of task transition, were faster than the condition without prior information. In Experiment 1-1, memory+cue condition and memory condition were indistinguishable since mixed design was used. In Experiments 1-2, the same experiment was performed using block design. As results, the reaction time of the memory+cue condition was slower than that of the memory condition for switching. These results suggest that task switching performance can be affected by the participants'' strategies.
In Experiment 2, to be remembered information was increased to 4 items. As results, conditions with prior information still had faster reaction times than those without prior information. When prior information was presented in a mixed design, the interference effect was shown for memory+cue condition compared to memory conditions. When a block design was used, the interference effect of the memory+cue condition was disappeared. The results demonstrate that prior information does not in itself affect task performance, but rather remembering prior information disturbs task performance.