Cognitive flexibility is the ability to switch between a set of task rules, while affective flexibility is the ability to switch between emotional and non-emotional aspects of a stimulus. Although there is research examining both of these types of flexible judgements, few studies have directly compared them. The present study aims to compare cognitive flexibility judgements (SwitchNumbers) with affective flexibility judgements (SwitchImages) utilizing reaction time (ms) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Behavioral data (n=20) and neuroimaging data (n=19, due to data loss) were collected. Stimuli were presented via E-prime 3.0 software with eight task conditions: 4 non-switch, and 4 switch blocks. The contrast of conditions SwitchImages - SwitchNumbers showed activation within the central executive network, with some activation within the limbic system. Additionally, the SwitchImages condition had the longest reaction time among all conditions. These results suggest that switching between emotional and non-emotional aspects of stimuli is more difficult than single task conditions and cognitive flexibility conditions, likely due to the increased cognitive load.
