Neural correlates of task and source switching: Similar or different?

Controlling everyday behaviour relies on the ability to configure appropriate task sets and guide attention towards information relevant to the current context and goals. Here, we ask whether these two aspects of cognitive control have different neural bases. Electrical brain activity was recorded while sixteen adults performed two discrimination tasks. The tasks were performed on either a visual input (letter on the screen) or self-generated information (letter generated internally by continuing the alphabetical sequence). In different blocks, volunteers either switched between (i) the two tasks, (ii) the two sources of information, or (iii) tasks and source of information. Event-related potentials differed significantly between switch and no-switch trials from an early point in time, encompassing at least three distinct effects. Crucially, although these effects showed quantitative differences across switch types, no qualitative differences were observed. Thus, at least under the current circumstances, switching between different tasks and between perceptually derived or self-generated sources of information rely on similar neural correlates until at least 900 ms after the onset of a switch event.