Hold your horses: Differences in EEG correlates of inhibition in cancelling and stopping an action

Abstract

Behavioral adaptation to changing contextual contingencies often requires the rapid inhibition of planned or ongoing actions. Inhibitory control has been mostly studied using the stop–signal paradigm, which conceptualizes action inhibition as the outcome of a race between independent GO and STOP processes. Inhibition is predominantly considered to be independent of action type, yet it is questionable whether this conceptualization can apply to stopping an ongoing action. To test the claimed generality of action inhibition, we investigated behavioral stop–signal reaction time (SSRT) and scalp electroencephalographic (EEG) activity in two inhibition contexts: Using variants of the stop–signal task, we asked participants to cancel a prepared–discrete action or to stop an ongoing–rhythmic action in reaction to a STOP signal. The behavioral analysis revealed that the discrete and rhythmic SSRTs were not correlated. The EEG analysis showed that the STOP signal evoked frontocentral activity in the time and frequency domains (Delta/Theta range) in a task–specific manner: The P3 onset latency was the best correlate of discrete SSRT whereas N2/P3 peak-to-peak amplitude was the best correlate of rhythmic SSRT. These findings do not support a conceptualization of inhibition as action–independent but rather suggest that the differential engagement of both components of the N2/P3–complex as a function of action type pertains to functionally independent inhibition subprocesses.