Generalized Signaling 1 Running head: GENERALIZED SIGNALING Generalized Signaling for Control: Evidence from Post-Conflict and Post-Error Performance Adjustments

Goal-directed behavior requires cognitive control to effect online adjustments in response to ongoing processing demands. How signaling for these adjustments occurs has been a question of much interest. A basic question regarding the architecture of the cognitive control system is whether such signaling for control is specific to task context or generalizes across contexts. In this study, we explored this issue using a stimulus-response compatibility paradigm. We examined trial-to-trial adjustments, which include the findings that incompatible trials elicit improved performance on subsequent incompatible trials and that responses are slower after errors. The critical question was, do such control effects—typically observed within a single task context—occur across task contexts? Our paradigm involved two orthogonal, stimulusresponse sets: stimuli in the horizontal direction mapped only to responses in the horizontal direction, and likewise for the vertical direction. Cues indicated either compatible (same direction as stimulus) or incompatible (opposite to stimulus) responses were required. Our results showed that trial-to-trial adjustments exist for both direction-repeat and direction-switch trials, demonstrating that signaling for control adjustments can extend beyond the task context within which they arise.