Individual Differences In Inhibitory Control Research Articles

Correlation of Reaction Time Differences in Naïve vs. Scientific Concept Conflict Task with the Stroop Interference Effect: Exploring the Concepts that “Moving Things are Alive” or “Stationary Things are Not”

ABSTRACTRecent studies have proposed that the automatic activation of naïve concepts, which persist even after learning scientific concepts, must be inhibited to successfully output scientific concepts. This model assumes that individual differences in inhibitory control (IC) within executive functions represent differences in conceptual change. However, the reported correlations between concept conflict and IC tasks are weak, casting doubt on this assumption. This study improves on previous methodologies by focusing on the performance of adult subjects in living and nonliving concept tasks presumed to have successfully achieved conceptual change and quantifying semantic‐level IC through the Stroop interference effect. The results revealed that the correlations between the Stroop interference effect and reaction time (RT) differences between conditions of the concept conflict task, which are assumed to represent the time required to inhibit naïve concepts, were relatively stronger compared with findings reported in previous studies. These findings suggest that individual differences in fluent inhibition of naïve concepts after acquiring scientific concepts align with those in IC, thereby supporting the validity of the inhibition model of naïve concepts.

Role of inhibitory control in adults' mathematical equivalence knowledge.

Previous research has shown that naïve views of math and science concepts coexist with more formal views. The current study extended this finding to the domain of mathematical equivalence and tested whether inhibitory control relates to using more formal views over naïve ones. In the current study, we report two experiments in which undergraduate students (n = 125 for Study 1 and n = 184 for Study 2) completed a priming task involving inhibitory control and math items, an inhibitory control flanker measure, and a comprehensive mathematical equivalence assessment. We found quantitative and qualitative evidence that adults hold both naïve operational views and formal relational views of equivalence across multiple measures and under timed and untimed conditions. In contrast to our hypotheses, we did not find evidence to support a strong association between individual differences in inhibitory control and mathematical equivalence knowledge. The results call into question the role of this domain-general cognitive skill in contributing to adults' expression of naïve operational thinking.

Inferential evaluation and revision in L1 and L2 text comprehension: An eye movement study

Abstract Text comprehension frequently demands the resolution of no longer plausible interpretations to build an accurate situation model, an ability that might be especially challenging during second language comprehension. Twenty-two native English speakers (L1) and twenty-two highly proficient non-native English speakers (L2) were presented with short narratives in English. Each text required the evaluation and revision of an initial prediction. Eye movements in the text and a comprehension sentence indicated less efficient performance in the L2 than in L1 comprehension, in both inferential evaluation and revision. Interestingly, these effects were determined by individual differences in inhibitory control and linguistic proficiency. Higher inhibitory control reduced the time rereading previous parts of the text (better evaluation) as well as revisiting the text before answering the sentence (better revision) in L2 comprehenders, whereas higher proficiency reduced the time in the sentence when the story was coherent, suggesting better general comprehension in both languages.

Individual Differences in Inhibitory Control Relate to Neural Efficiency During Reading

AbstractNeural efficiency, adaptability, and synchronization, or the ability to recruit, dynamically modulate, and coordinate neural resources on an “as needed” basis, have been proposed as hallmarks of skilled reading. The current study explored the relation between these aspects of neural functioning during reading, as measured by electroencephalography (EEG), and individual differences in inhibitory control, as measured by performance on the Simon task. Wireless 16‐channel EEG headsets were used to record eyes‐closed resting‐state EEG and EEG during reading (recorded while participants completed a reading comprehension test). Results from 140 participants showed a significant correlation between inhibitory control and neural efficiency in the theta frequency band within the right posterior region‐of‐interest, but no significant correlations with neural adaptability or synchronization. Given the established relation between theta‐based activity and linguistic processes, this finding suggests that readers with better inhibitory control demonstrate more efficient use of their language network while reading.

Individual differences in inhibitory control are not related to downregulation of negative emotion via distancing.

Evidence suggests that cognitive control and emotional control share partly the same cognitive processes. For example, downregulation of negative emotions requires inhibiting or limiting the expression of a prepotent appraisal of a situation in favor of selecting an alternative appraisal. Although inhibitory control seems to be a particularly relevant process in emotion regulation (ER), previous studies reported inconsistent findings on their relationship, likely because of the application of single task measures in relatively small samples. Therefore, this study implemented a battery of six commonly used inhibitory control tasks in a large sample of young healthy adults (N = 190) and investigated whether inhibitory control is associated with the downregulation of negative emotion. ER was measured via self-reported reappraisal and suppression use and via a laboratory ER task where participants had to distance themselves from emotions in response to negative and neutral pictures. The ER task was accompanied by concurrent physiological measurements of corrugator electromyography (EMG), skin conductance response (SCR), and heart period (HP). Frequentist and Bayesian analyses indicated that inhibitory control was neither associated with self-reported reappraisal and suppression use, nor with successful downregulation of negative emotion via distancing. Compared with HP and SCR, corrugator EMG was the only peripheral physiological measure that was indicative of regulatory success. The findings question the view that inhibitory control represents an underlying process in emotion regulation via distancing, at least at the behavioral level. Further studies should investigate the generalizability of these findings to other ER strategies, tactics, paradigms, and participant groups. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Predicting behavioral and brain markers of inhibitory control at preschool age from early measures of executive attention.

Inhibitory control (IC) is the ability to prevent prepotent responses when inappropriate. Longitudinal research on IC development has mainly focused on early childhood and adolescence, while research on IC development in the first years of life is still scarce. To address this gap in the literature, we explored the association between executive attention (EA) and elementary forms of IC in infancy and toddlerhood, with individual differences in IC later at 5 years of age. We conducted a five-wave longitudinal study in which children's EA and IC (n = 96) were tested at the age of 9 and 16 months and 2, 3, and 5 years. Children performed various age-appropriate EA and IC tasks in each wave, measuring inhibition of attention, endogenous control of attention, inhibition of the response, and conflict inhibition. At 5 years of age, IC was measured with a Go/No-go task while recording event-related potentials. After correlation analyses, structural equation model analyses were performed to predict IC at 5 years of age from EA and early IC measures. The results revealed that EA at 9 months predicted IC measures at 2 years of age. Likewise, measures of IC at 2 years predicted performance on the Go/No-go task at behavioral and neural levels. No direct association was found between EA at 9 months and IC at 5 years of age. We further observed that some EA and IC measures were not associated across time. As we expected, EA skills in infancy and toddlerhood were related to better performance of children on IC tasks, toghether with a more mature inhibition-related brain functioning. Altogether, the results indicate that IC in early childhood could be predicted from EA and IC at 9 months and 2 years of age and suggest that the early emergence of IC relies on the development of particular EA and basic IC skills. However, some discontinuities in the longitudinal development of IC are observed in the first 5 years of life. These findings provide further support for the hierarchical model of IC development.

High-level listening comprehension in advanced English as a second language: Effects of the first language and inhibitory control

AbstractEnglish is imposed as the language of instruction in multiple linguistically diverse societies where there is more than one official language. This might have negative educational consequences for people whose first language (L1) is not English. To investigate this, 47 South Africans with advanced English proficiency but different L1s (L1-English vs. L1-Zulu) were evaluated in their listening comprehension ability. Specifically, participants listened to narrative texts in English which prompted an initial inference followed by a sentence containing an expected inference or an unexpected but plausible concept, assessing comprehension monitoring. A final question containing congruent or incongruent information in relation to the text information followed, assessing the revision process. L1-English participants were more efficient at monitoring and revising their listening comprehension. Furthermore, individual differences in inhibitory control were associated with differences in revision. Results show that participants’ L1 appears to supersede their advanced English proficiency on highly complex listening comprehension.

Responses at Individual Gamma Frequencies Are Related to the Processing Speed but Not the Inhibitory Control.

The link between the state of networks underlying the generation of periodic responses at gamma ranges and cognitive outcomes is still poorly understood. In this study, we tested the idea that the individual differences in the ability to generate responses to auditory stimulation at gamma frequencies may underlie the individual differences in the inhibitory control. We focused on the processing speed and accuracy in the Bivalent Shape Task (a cognitive inhibition task assessing attentional interference) and explored the relationship with responses at 40 Hz and at individual gamma frequencies (IGFs, assessed utilizing auditory envelope-following responses in 30-60 Hz range). In a sample of 70 subjects, we show that individual measures (phase-locking index and event-related spectral perturbation) of the ability to generate gamma-range activity are not related to the individual differences in inhibitory control but rather reflect basic information processing speed in healthy young subjects. With the individualized approach (at IGFs), the observed associations were found to be somewhat stronger. These findings have important implications for the interpretation of gamma activity in neuropsychiatric disorders.

Supplemental Material for Individual Differences in Inhibitory Control Are Not Related to Downregulation of Negative Emotion via Distancing

Supplemental Material for Individual Differences in Inhibitory Control Are Not Related to Downregulation of Negative Emotion via Distancing

A method to assess response inhibition during a balance recovery step

BackgroundCorrelations between falls and individual differences in inhibitory control, suggest the ability to suppress automatic, but unwanted, action is important in fall prevention. Response inhibition has been a topic of considerable interest in the cognitive neuroscience community for many decades, bringing a wealth of techniques that could potentially inform assessment of reactive balance. For example, the stop signal task is a popular method to quantify inhibitory control ability. Research questionCan we apply the stop signal task to measure response inhibition in a balance recovery task? MethodsTwenty healthy, young adults completed a novel reactive balance test that required occasional suppression of a balance recovery step. Participants were released from a supported lean (‘Go’ cue) requiring them to quickly step forward to regain balance. On some trials, a tone (‘Stop’ cue) instructed participants to suppress a step and relax into a harness. Step trials were more frequent (80%) than stop trials (20%) to bias a rapid stepping response. The stop tone was presented at various delays following cable release, to manipulate task difficulty (i.e., longer delays make step suppression difficult). Individual differences in inhibitory control were determined using lift off times from force plates, and by contrasting muscle activation in failed compared to successful stop trials. ResultsMost participants were able to successfully suppress a balance recovery step on occasion, allowing for accurate estimation of individual differences in inhibitory control. The successful suppression of a balance recovery step was more likely in the group (n = 10) where shorter stop signal delays were used (i.e., the task was easier). SignificanceWhile balance assessments often stress reflexive action, there is a need for methods that evaluate response inhibition. The present study leveraged a well-established cognitive test of inhibitory control to develop a method to quantify stopping ability in a reactive balance context.

How Inhibitory Control Relates to Positive and Negative Affective States in Red Junglefowl.

Individual differences in inhibitory control, an aspect of cognition, are found in many species. How this variation links to affective states is not much explored, and could be relevant for welfare. As less fearful, more optimistic, individuals may act more impulsively, inhibitory control could link to less negative, more positive, affective states. Alternatively, poorer inhibitory control could associate with more negative, less positive, affective states, as poorer inhibitory control can result in individuals being less able to adapt to changing environments and more likely to show stereotypies. We here explored in three cohorts (N = 209) of captive red junglefowl, the ancestor of domestic chickens, how inhibitory control associated with affective states. Specifically, we measured inhibitory control with a detour task, and negative and positive affective states with a tonic immobility test and a cognitive judgement bias test, respectively. Cognition and behaviour can differ between ages and sexes. Therefore, we investigated how inhibitory control related to affective states in younger chicks (≈2.5 weeks old), older chicks (≈5 weeks old) and sexually mature adults (≈28 weeks old) of both sexes. In younger chicks, poorer inhibitory control associated with less negative, more positive, affective states. We found no relationship between inhibitory control and affective states in older chicks or adults, nor sex differences regarding how inhibitory control related to affective states. Overall, our results suggest that inhibitory control can link to affective states and that the nature of these links can change over ontogeny.

Using Network Parcels and Resting-State Networks to Estimate Correlates of Mood Disorder and Related Research Domain Criteria Constructs of Reward Responsiveness and Inhibitory Control

BackgroundResting-state graph-based network edges can be powerful tools for identification of mood disorders. We address whether these edges can be integrated with Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) constructs for accurate identification of mood disorder–related markers, while minimizing active symptoms of disease. MethodsWe compared 132 individuals with currently remitted or euthymic mood disorder with 65 healthy comparison participants, ages 18–30 years. Subsets of smaller brain parcels, combined into three prominent networks and one network of parcels overlapping across these networks, were used to compare edge differences between groups. Consistent with the RDoC framework, we evaluated individual differences with performance measure regressors of inhibitory control and reward responsivity. Within an omnibus regression model, we predicted edges related to diagnostic group membership, performance within both RDoC domains, and relevant interactions. ResultsThere were several edges of mood disorder group, predominantly of greater connectivity across networks, different than those related to individual differences in inhibitory control and reward responsivity. Edges related to diagnosis and inhibitory control did not align well with prior literature, whereas edges in relation to reward responsivity constructs showed greater alignment with prior literature. Those edges in interaction between RDoC constructs and diagnosis showed a divergence for inhibitory control (negative interactions in default mode) relative to reward (positive interactions with salience and emotion network). ConclusionsIn conclusion, there is evidence that prior simple network models of mood disorders are currently of insufficient biological or diagnostic clarity or that parcel-based edges may be insufficiently sensitive for these purposes.

Can inhibition deficit hypothesis account for age-related differences in semantic fluency? Converging evidence from Stroop color and word test and an ERP flanker task

The inhibition deficit hypothesis (IDH) proposed that individual differences in inhibitory control is an underlying reason for age-related language decline. This study examined whether the hypothesis holds within the domain of lexico-semantic retrieval. Sixty-six older adults aged 60–79 were tested in a semantic fluency task comprising 16 categories; each response was classified as automatic or controlled. Also, Stroop color and word test and an ERP flanker task were employed to yield both behavioral and neural measures of inhibitory control. Mixed-effects modelling revealed that the number of controlled (but not automatic) responses was negatively associated with age. This interaction could be partially accounted for by the behavioral Stroop inhibition score and two neural measures from the ERP flanker task (P2 and Pc amplitudes). These results not only provide converging evidence supporting the IDH, but also demonstrate the involvement of specific inhibitory control components, including attentional control and performance monitoring.

Attachment security, verbal ability, and inhibitory control in middle childhood

BackgroundThe relationship between parent–child attachment and executive function (EF) in middle childhood remains relatively poorly studied. Very little is known about the role that the child’s verbal ability might play in these relationships. Therefore, in the present study, we explored the concurrent links between perceived attachment security with parents and hot and cool inhibitory control (IC)—a core component of EF—as well as the potential mediating role of verbal ability in those links.MethodsThe participants were 160 children aged 8 to 12 (51% girls). They completed the Attachment Security Scale, the computerised version of the go/no-go task, the delay discounting task, and the vocabulary subtest from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. Pearson’s correlations were conducted to test relationships between the study variables. A hierarchical multiple linear regression analysis was performed to examine whether attachment security uniquely contributed to the outcomes after accounting for covariates. The indirect effects were tested using a non-parametric resampling bootstrap approach.ResultsThe results showed that, after accounting for the child’s age and sex, there was a direct relationship between attachment security with the father and cool, but not hot, IC. However, there were no significant links between attachment security with the mother and both aspects of IC. We also found that children’s verbal ability played a mediating role in the associations between both child–father and child–mother attachment security and hot, but not cool, IC above and beyond the child’s age.ConclusionsThe current study extends previous work on executive functions in middle childhood. The results highlight the role of attachment in explaining individual differences in IC in middle childhood as well as the different mechanisms through which attachment with parents might explain cool vs. hot IC. The findings have potential implications for therapeutic interventions using the family context as a target to improve IC in middle childhood.

Measures of inhibitory control correlate between different tasks but do not predict problem-solving success in a fish, Poecilia reticulata

Once considered a human characteristic, the presence of correlations between individuals' performance in cognitive tasks has now been reported in a range of vertebrates. In humans, an important source of cognitive variability is inhibitory control: some individuals are consistently more efficient in inhibitory tasks and this affects individual differences in other cognitive tasks, including measures of general intelligence. We looked for these two types of individual differences in a teleost fish, the guppy Poecilia reticulata. First, we observed guppies in two inhibitory control tasks. In the tube task, guppies had to inhibit the tendency to attack live prey sealed into a transparent tube. In the cylinder task, guppies had to inhibit the tendency to swim directly toward a food item placed inside a transparent cylinder and rather detour and enter the cylinder from the open sides. Individual rank performance was maintained between the two inhibitory tasks, suggesting individual differences in inhibitory control across tasks in this species. Then, we tested the same set of guppies in a problem-solving task, whereby they had to learn to dislodge an object that prevented the access to a food reward. Neither the tube task nor the cylinder task score predicted guppies' problem-solving performance. Our study demonstrates that fish exhibit consistent individual differences in inhibitory control, as expected if this trait has a common evolutionary origin in vertebrates. Yet, in fish, these individual differences appear not to be related to other cognitive processes such as those required for problem solving.

Lateralization correlates with individual differences in inhibitory control in zebrafish.

Individual fitness often depends on the ability to inhibit behaviours not adapted to a given situation. However, inhibitory control can vary greatly between individuals of the same species. We investigated a mechanism that might maintain this variability in zebrafish (Danio rerio). We demonstrate that inhibitory control correlates with cerebral lateralization, the tendency to process information with one brain hemisphere or the other. Individuals that preferentially observed a social stimulus with the right eye and thus processed social information with the left brain hemisphere, inhibited foraging behaviour more efficiently. Therefore, selective pressures that maintain lateralization variability in populations might provide indirect selection for variability in inhibitory control. Our study suggests that individual cognitive differences may result from complex multi-trait selection mechanisms.

Individual differences in perceptual adaptation to unfamiliar phonetic categories

The present study examines whether listeners flexibly adapt to unfamiliar speech patterns such as those encountered in foreign-accented English vowels, where the relative informativeness of primary (spectral quality) and secondary (duration) cues tends to be reversed (e.g., spectrally similar but exaggerated duration differences between bet and bat). This study further tests whether listeners’ adaptive strategies are related to individual differences in phoneme categorization gradiency and cognitive abilities. Native English listeners (N = 36) listened to a continuum of vowels from /ɛ/ to /æ/ (as in head and had) varying in spectral and duration values to complete a perceptual adaptation task and a visual analog scaling (VAS) task. Participants also completed cognitive tasks examining executive function capacities. Results showed that listeners mostly used spectral quality to signal vowel category at baseline, but flexibly adapted by up-weighting reliance on duration when spectral quality became no longer diagnostic. In the VAS task, some listeners made more categorical responses while others made more gradient responses in vowel categorization, but these differences were not linked to their adaptive patterns. Results of cognitive tasks revealed that individual differences in inhibitory control correlated, to some degree, with the amount of adaptation. Together, these findings suggest that listeners flexibly adapt to unfamiliar speech categories using distributional information in the input and individual differences in cognitive abilities may influence their adaptability.

The inhibitory control of pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) weakens when previously learned environmental information becomes unpredictable

Inhibitory control (IC) is the ability to intentionally restrain initial, ineffective responses to a stimulus and instead exhibit an alternative behaviour that is not pre-potent but which effectively attains a reward. Individuals (both humans and non-human animals) differ in their IC, perhaps as a result of the different environmental conditions they have experienced. We experimentally manipulated environmental predictability, specifically how reliable information linking a cue to a reward was, over a very short time period and tested how this affected an individual’s IC. We gave 119 pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) the opportunity to learn to associate a visual cue with a food reward in a binary choice task. We then perturbed this association for half the birds, whereas control birds continued to be rewarded when making the correct choice. We immediately measured all birds’ on a detour IC task and again 3 days later. Perturbed birds immediately performed worse than control birds, making more unrewarded pecks at the apparatus than control birds, although this effect was less for individuals that had more accurately learned the initial association. The effect of the perturbation was not seen 3 days later, suggesting that individual IC performance is highly plastic and susceptible to recent changes in environmental predictability. Specifically, individuals may perform poorly in activities requiring IC immediately after information in their environment is perturbed, with the perturbation inducing emotional arousal. Our finding that recent environmental changes can affect IC performance, depending on how well an animal has learned about that environment, means that interpreting individual differences in IC must account for both prior experience and relevant individual learning abilities.

Unpredictable environments enhance inhibitory control in pheasants

The ability to control impulsive actions is an important executive function that is central to the self-regulation of behaviours and, in humans, can have important implications for mental and physical health. One key factor that promotes individual differences in inhibitory control (IC) is the predictability of environmental information experienced during development (i.e. reliability of resources and social trust). However, environmental predictability can also influence motivational and other cognitive abilities, which may therefore confound interpretations of the mechanisms underlying IC. We investigated the role of environmental predictability, food motivation and cognition on IC. We reared pheasant chicks, Phasianus colchicus, under standardised conditions, in which birds experienced environments that differed in their spatial predictability. We systematically manipulated spatial predictability during their first 8 weeks of life, by either moving partitions daily to random locations (unpredictable environment) or leaving them in fixed locations (predictable environment). We assessed motivation by presenting pheasants with two different foraging tasks that measured their dietary breadth and persistence to acquire inaccessible food rewards, as well as recording their latencies to acquire a freely available baseline worm positioned adjacent to each test apparatus, their body condition (mass/tarsus3) and sex. We assessed cognitive performance by presenting each bird with an 80-trial binary colour discrimination task. IC was assessed using a transparent detour apparatus, which required subjects to inhibit prepotent attempts to directly acquire a visible reward through the barrier and instead detour around a barrier. We found greater capacities for IC in pheasants that were reared in spatially unpredictable environments compared to those reared in predictable environments. While IC was unrelated to individual differences in cognitive performance on the colour discrimination task or motivational measures, we found that environmental predictability had differential effects on sex. Males reared in an unpredictable environment, and all females regardless of their rearing environment, were less persistent than males reared in a predictable environment. Our findings, therefore, suggest that an individual’s developmental experience can influence their performance on IC tasks.

Brain event-related potentials predict individual differences in inhibitory control

Stop-signal reaction time (SSRT), the time needed to cancel an already-initiated motor response, quantifies individual differences in inhibitory control. Electrophysiological correlates of SSRT have primarily focused on late event-related potential (ERP) components over midline scalp regions from successfully inhibited stop trials. SSRT is robustly associated with the P300, there is mixed evidence for N200 involvement, and there is little information on the role of early ERP components. Here, machine learning was first used to interrogate ERPs during both successful and failed stop trials from 64 scalp electrodes at 4 ms resolution (n = 148). The most predictive model included data from both successful and failed stop trials, with a cross-validated Pearson's r of 0.32 between measured and predicted SSRT, significantly higher than null models. From successful stop trials, spatio-temporal features overlapping the N200 in right frontal areas and the P300 in frontocentral areas predicted SSRT, as did early ERP activity (<200 ms). As a demonstration of the reproducibility of these findings, the application of this model to a separate dataset of 97 participants was also significant (r = 0.29). These results show that ERPs during failed stops are relevant to SSRT, and that both early and late ERP activity contribute to individual differences in SSRT. Notably, the right lateralized N200, which predicted SSRT here, is not often observed in neurotypical adults. Both the ascending slope and peak of the P300 component predicted SSRT. These results were replicable, both within the training sample and when applied to ERPs from a separate dataset.