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Frequency-based modulation of internal-external attention switch costs

Poster Session E - Monday, March 9, 2026, 2:30 – 4:30 pm PDT, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballroom

Jaime Rios¹ (), Tobias Egner¹; ¹Duke University

Daily life requires us to frequently switch between attending to information from external (perceptual) and internal (memory) sources. Recent research has documented that such transitions between external and internal attention modes incur a switch cost, but many aspects of this mode switch cost are presently not understood. Here we probed a fundamental question regarding this cost, namely, whether the cognitive processes reflected in the mode switch cost are malleable; specifically, whether they would display adaptation effects to time-varying switch demands. We developed a novel mode switching task using real-world objects. Experiment 1 involved an equal number of attention mode repetition and switch trials, and the results replicated the basic mode switch cost observed in prior studies. Experiment 2 systematically varied the proportion of mode switches between 25% and 75% across two samples. In line with prior studies in the domain of cued task-switching, we predicted that a greater frequency of switches would result in people adapting their processing strategies to facilitate attention mode switching. In line with this prediction, we found that mode switch costs were significantly reduced in the condition with frequent compared to rare switch demands. These findings provide the first evidence that individuals can modulate their readiness to switch between external and internal attention modes in line with varying contextual demands.

Topic Area: EXECUTIVE PROCESSES: Goal maintenance & switching