Gade, M. 1 & Paelecke, M. 2
1 Universität Zürich, Switzerland
2 Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Germany
Personality traits are assumed to be reflected in individual differences in basic cognitive performance. Higher levels of dispositional negative emotionality, usually associated with biased processing of unpleasant stimuli, have been shown recently to be associated with increased performance in tasks affording cognitive control processes. We tested whether individual differences in switch costs and inhibition costs (measured as n-2 repetition) can be dissociated and how such differences are related to the trait Neuroticism (as measured via the NEO-PIR). Our subjects performed two experiments in randomized order: In one they did a classical task switching experiment, assessing cognitive flexibility when switching between two tasks. In the other experiment, we devised another switching experiment, this time analyzing n-2 repetition costs, i.e. comparing n-2 switches (CBA sequences) to n-2 repetitions (ABA sequences). Across both studies switch costs and inhibition costs were unrelated. So far, Neuroticism was associated with reduced switch costs, whereby correlations were absent and even reversed for our inhibitory measure. Beneath suggesting the value of personality traits to account for performance of basic cognitive functions, personality traits as assessed via a standardized questionnaire can also be used to answer ongoing cognitive theorizing.