Hierarchical Task Representation: Task Files and Response Selection

Human behavior is remarkably complex—even during the performance of relatively simple tasks—yet it is often assumed that learned associations between stimuli and responses provide the representational substrate for action selection. Here, we introduce an alternative framework, called a task file, that includes hierarchical associations between stimulus features, response features, goals, and drives, which may overcome the limitations inherent in the conceptualization of response selection as being based solely on associations between stimuli and responses. We then review evidence from our own experimental research showing that even in the context of performing relatively easy tasks, the stimulus-response-association approach to response selection is inadequate to account for the interactions between discrete responses. Instead, response selection may emerge from competition between linked representations at multiple levels.