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Poster B in Poster Session B: Tuesday, August 4, 2:00 – 3:45 pm, Kimmel Center, Shorin & Rosenthal Rooms

Asymmetric Interruption Costs Reflect Transition Structure Shaped by Task-Neutral Attractors

Takuro Zama¹, Atsushi Kikumoto², Kazuhisa Shibata¹; ¹RIKEN, ²Brown University

Presenter: Takuro Zama

Unexpected interruptions lead to persistent performance costs in subsequent task execution. Within a dynamical systems framework of cognitive control, where task-specific states are represented as attractors, interruption costs can arise from changes in the local dynamics of existing attractors or from the introduction of task-neutral attractors that alter transition structure, changing the rate of convergence. We tested these hypotheses using behavioral experiments and computational modeling. Behaviorally, interruptions increased response times in an asymmetric manner: returning to the pre-interruption task incurred larger costs than switching to an alternative task. This asymmetry was captured only when the local dynamics were modulated via changes in recurrent gains combined with an additional task-neutral attractor. These results suggest that recovery from unexpected interruptions is governed by multiple neural mechanisms changing the overall energy landscape among task attractors.

Topic Area: Decision-Making, Cognitive Control & Event Cognition