We provide two shifted analogues of the tableau switching process due to Benkart, Sottile, and Stroomer, the shifted tableau switching process and the modified shifted tableau switching process. They are performed by applying a sequence of specially contrived elementary transformations called {em switches} and turn out to have some spectacular properties. For instance, the maps induced from these algorithms are involutive and behave very nicely with respect to shifted Young tableaux whose reading words satisfy the lattice property. As an application, we give combinatorial interpretations of Schur $P$- and $Q$-function identities. We also demonstrate the relationship between the shifted tableau switching process and the shifted $J$-operation due to Worley.
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