Evidence for the Contribution of a Signaling Heuristic During Cued Task Switching: Increasing the Number of Response Alternatives Can Reduce Response Repetition Costs

Elena Benini; Eliot Hazeltine; Daniel H Weissman; Iring Koch

doi:10.5406/19398298.139.1.03

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Evidence for the Contribution of a Signaling Heuristic During Cued Task Switching: Increasing the Number of Response Alternatives Can Reduce Response Repetition Costs

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Evidence for the Contribution of a Signaling Heuristic During Cued Task Switching: Increasing the Number of Response Alternatives Can Reduce Response Repetition Costs

Elena Benini, Eliot Hazeltine, Daniel H Weissman and Iring Koch

The American journal of psychology, Vol.139(1), pp.15-26

01/01/2026

DOI: 10.5406/19398298.139.1.03

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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.

Alternatives

Bias

Cognitive systems

Costs

Cues

Heuristic

Human factors research

Information processing

Manipulation

Paradigms

Reaction time

Reaction time task

Repetition

Signaling

Details

Title: Subtitle: Evidence for the Contribution of a Signaling Heuristic During Cued Task Switching: Increasing the Number of Response Alternatives Can Reduce Response Repetition Costs
Creators: Elena Benini - RWTH Aachen University
Eliot Hazeltine - University of Iowa
Daniel H Weissman - University of Michigan
Iring Koch - RWTH Aachen University
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: The American journal of psychology, Vol.139(1), pp.15-26
DOI: 10.5406/19398298.139.1.03
ISSN: 0002-9556
eISSN: 1939-8298
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Language: English
Date published: 01/01/2026
Academic Unit: Psychological and Brain Sciences; Iowa Neuroscience Institute
Record Identifier: 9985157502502771

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