Abstract

Cognitive performance depends on contextual elements, such as the response type ("Go/No-Go" (GNG) or "Two-Alternative Choice" (TAC)) used in experimental tasks. In general, it is assumed that GNG shows faster response times and lower error rates than TAC. To systematically analyze these effects, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the effect of GNG and TAC on cognitive processing across experimental paradigms. After examination of diverse databases, 24 scientific articles were included. We found eight different cognitive tasks, presentling results mainly of behavioural variables, with only three studies including neural recordings. We found that GNG shows faster response times and lower error rates than TAC, although this changes depending on task configurations. The scarce neural evidence suggests that the differences might occur at early processing stages. Future simultaneously recorded behavioural and electrophysiological data is needed to gain better understanding of these contextual effects.