Abstract In 2-choice task-switching paradigms, repeating the previous response is beneficial when the task repeats but leads to performance costs when the task switches. Competing accounts explain such response repetition (RR) costs in different ways. Among these, some accounts postulate a signaling mechanism such that changing the task signals the cognitive system to change the response. With 2 response alternatives, a task switch signals the lone alternative response, yielding RR costs when the previous response should instead be repeated. With 3 response alternatives, a task switch promotes a bias to switch responses but does not signal which of the 2 alternative responses should be made. Therefore, it should be associated with reduced RR costs. To investigate this hypothesis, we manipulated the number of response alternatives in a cued task-switching paradigm, with 1 session affording 2 response alternatives and another affording 3. This manipulation did not influence RR costs in the reaction time measures. However, it did influence RR costs in mean error rates, which were smaller with 3 (vs. 2) response alternatives. Because only a signaling mechanism should yield this pattern, the latter finding suggests that signaling contributes to response repetition costs. We discuss this finding in light of other empirical results, suggesting that performance improves when different elements of a task require the same transition (e.g., a repetition) compared with a different transition.
Benini et al. (Thu,) studied this question.