The Confluence UI suggests that "tasks" and "action items" are different things. Here's a screen shot illustrating where I get that idea:

When I try to create a "task" I am given the option of creating either a "Task report" or an "Action item", but not a task.
When I opt to create an "Action item", or use two square brackets to do the same, I can assign it to someone.
But when I go to the my own "Tasks" page (as available under my personal menu at the top right of every page), which takes me to the following path "/wiki/home/tasks", I do not see any of the "Action items" which have been assigned to me.
Similarly, when I embed a "Task report" on a page and filter it to look for tasks assigned to me on the page where I've placed the "Action items", no tasks show up. I've captured a screen shot of this below.

So, based on the fact that I can't see any of the "Action items" within the task areas, I'm lead to believe that "Tasks" and "Action items" are two different things. "Action items" seem to be to-dos that are only available "in place" on the page where they are created.
I'm interested to learn how to create "tasks" since they are obviously more extensible.
How do I create a "task" in Confluence?