How Task Set and Task Switching Modulate Perceptual Processes: Is Recognition of Facial Emotion an Exception?

In Part 1 we review task-switching and other studies showing that, even with time for preparation, participants' ability to shift attention a relevant attribute or object before the stimulus onset is limited: there 'residual cost'. particular, several brain potential markers of perceptual encoding are delayed on task-switch trials, compared task-repeat trials that require same as before. Such effects have been documented process often considered 'automatic' - visual word recognition: ERP frequency word/nonword status (1) when recognition task follows judgement property repeating lexical task, (2) strongly attenuated during judgements. Thus, access seems influenced by task/attentional set. 2, report in detail demonstration what be special case, where task-set switch no such effect encoding. Participants saw an outline letter superimposed face expressing neutral negative emotion, were auditorily cued categorise vowel/consonant, emotional/neutral. ERPs exhibited robust emotional-neutral difference (Emotional Expression Effect) smaller later switching than it; first half its time-course it did not vary at all. The initial valence fixated facial emotional expression appears involuntary invariant, whatever endogenous