Researchers have recognized the role that task representation plays in our behavior for many years. However, the specific influence that the structure of one’s task representation has on executive functioning has only recently been investigated. Prior research suggests that adjustments of cognitive control are affected by subtle manipulations of aspects of the stimulus–response pairs within and across task sets. This work has focused on examples of cognitive control such as response preparation, dual-task performance, and the congruency sequence effect. The current study investigates the effect of task representation on another example of control, post-error slowing. To determine if factors that influence how people represent a task affect how behavior is adjusted after an error, an adaptive attention-shifting task was developed with multiple task delimiting features. Participants were randomly assigned to a separate task set (two task sets) or an integrated task set (one task set) group. For the separate set group, the task sets switched after each trial. Results showed that only the integrated set group exhibited post-error slowing. This suggests that task representation influences the boundaries of cognitive control adjustments and has implications for our understanding of how control is organized when adjusting to errors in performance.

中文翻译：

---

任务表示会影响错误后行为减慢的界限。

多年来，研究人员已经认识到任务表示在我们的行为中扮演的角色。但是，直到最近才研究了一个人的任务代表结构对执行功能的特定影响。先前的研究表明，对认知控制的调整会受到任务集内和跨任务集的刺激－响应对方面的微妙操纵的影响。这项工作集中于认知控制的示例，例如响应准备，双重任务执行和一致性序列效果。当前的研究调查了任务表示对控制的另一个示例（错误后减慢）的影响。要确定影响人们如何执行任务的因素是否会影响错误发生后行为的调整方式，自适应注意力转移任务已开发，具有多个任务界定功能。参与者被随机分配到一个单独的任务集（两个任务集）或一个集成的任务集（一个任务集）组。对于单独的集合组，任务集在每次试用后切换。结果表明，只有整合组才表现出错误后减慢。这表明任务表示会影响认知控制调整的边界，并有助于我们理解在调整绩效错误时如何组织控制。结果表明，只有整合组才表现出错误后减慢。这表明任务表示会影响认知控制调整的边界，并有助于我们理解在调整绩效错误时如何组织控制。结果表明，只有整合组才表现出错误后减慢。这表明任务表示会影响认知控制调整的边界，并有助于我们理解在调整绩效错误时如何组织控制。