Abstract
Andrea Kiesel and colleagues review task-switching paradigms — preparation mechanisms, proactive task interference, and stimulus/response carryover — concluding that switch costs combine executive reconfiguration with persistent task-level interference.
Kiesel, A., Steinhauser, M., Wendt, M., Falkenstein, M., Jost, K., Philipp, A. M., & Koch, I. (2010). Psychological Bulletin, 136(5), 849–874. DOI
Key findings
- Switch cost — Changing tasks slows performance even with preparation cues — reconfiguration is real but partial.
- Interference stack — Proactive inhibition, stimulus binding, and response repetition all add cost beyond executive control.
- Preparation limits — Longer preparation reduces RT but does not always eliminate switch-specific penalty.
Limits
Most evidence from simplified lab tasks — mapping to knowledge-work tab switching requires cautious translation.
Application
When you bounce between unrelated tasks, expect a measurable reconfiguration tax — protect one declared tunnel before accepting switch costs. See Dispersion. Curated domain trail: Focus.