What is the Origin of Task-Switching Cost?

This is a well-established phenomenon in experimental psychology and cognitive neuroscience, often measured using specific paradigms. The 'cost' is a functional metric of cognitive inefficiency and executive function load.

What is the Mechanism of Task-Switching Cost?

The cost is incurred by the necessary inhibition of the previous task's rules and the activation of the new task's rules, processes mediated by the prefrontal cortex and its associated dopaminergic pathways. Hormonal dysregulation, particularly chronic elevation of cortisol, can impair prefrontal cortex function, thereby exacerbating the task-switching cost and depleting finite neural resources more rapidly.

Task-Switching Cost

Meaning

The measurable decrement in speed and accuracy of performance that occurs when an individual shifts attention and cognitive resources from one task to a different, unrelated task. This cost reflects the metabolic energy and time required for the prefrontal cortex to reconfigure its executive control settings. High switching cost indicates a state of cognitive fatigue or suboptimal neurochemical balance.