Abstract
Switching to a dominant task incurs larger costs than switching to a non-dominant task. This study investigated whether this cost asymmetry derives from the inhibition of the dominant task rule that occurred during the previous trial. Participants were presented with a five-letter array consisting of _??_ (left) and _??_ (right), _??_, _??_, _??_, and _??_, and asked to respond to the central target letter after being informed about the task rule with a pre-cue. The rule was switched between dominant (left-hand to _??_, right-hand to _??_) and non-dominant tasks (right-hand to _??_, left-hand to _??_) every two trials. Reaction times revealed the asymmetrical switch cost and the effect of target-flanker congruency. Stimulus-locked lateralized readiness potentials showed that the dominant task rule was inhibited during the non-dominant task, whereas this inhibition was not carried over to the dominant task trial.
