Episodic retrieval and decaying inhibition in the competitor-rule suppression phenomenon

The Competitor Rule Suppression (CRS) effect is the performance impairment observed in task switching when the currently relevant task rule is the same rule that had generated a response conflict in the preceding trial. This effect could reflect (a) episodic tagging, in which a competitor rule is retrieved with relative difficulty in subsequent trials or (b) residual active inhibition of the competing rule. In order to help distinguishing between the two accounts, the authors manipulated the Response–Cue Interval (RCI), which may influence both processes. CRS increased with increasing temporal distinctiveness between the previous and current episode (operationalized by the ratio of the current RCI to the previous RCI, RCI/pRCI), thus supporting episodic tagging. CRS additionally decreased numerically with increasing RCI even when the RCI/pRCI ratio was fixed, thereby providing suggestive support for the decay account.

► CRS is the suppression of a conflict generating rule from the preceding trial. ► The current study examined the response-cue interval (RCI) on the CRS effect. ► The results provided tentative support for the episodic tagging account. ► The results however did not reject the inhibition decay account.