Inhibitory Control Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

A recent fMRI study showed that dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) exerts an inhibitory control on pain pathways in humans. We investigated whether high-frequency rTMS over left DLPFC could ameliorate chronic migraine. Treatment consisted of 12 rTMS sessions, delivered in alternate days over left DLPFC. Sham rTMS was used as placebo. Eleven patients were randomly assigned to the rTMS (n=6) or to the placebo (n=5) treatment. Measures of attack frequency, headache index, number of abortive medications (outcome measures) were recorded in the month before, during and in the month after treatment. Subjects treated by rTMS showed a significant reduction of the outcome measures during and in the month after the treatment as compared to the month before treatment. No significant differences in the outcome measures were observed in the placebo group. High-frequency rTMS over left DLPFC was able to ameliorate chronic migraine. This is in agreement with the suggested role of DLPFC in pain control.

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- Medicine, High Frequency, Chronic Disease, Migraine

Research on retrieval-induced forgetting has shown that the selective retrieval of some information can cause the forgetting of other information. Such forgetting is believed to result from inhibitory processes that function to resolve interference during retrieval. The current study examined whether individuals with ADHD demonstrate normal levels of retrieval-induced forgetting. A total of 40 adults with ADHD and 40 adults without ADHD participated in a standard retrieval-induced forgetting experiment. Critically, half of the items were tested using category cues and the other half of the items were tested using category-plus-one-letter-stem cues. Whereas both ADHD and non-ADHD participants demonstrated retrieval-induced forgetting on the final category-cued recall test, only non-ADHD participants demonstrated retrieval-induced forgetting on the final category-plus-stem-cued recall test. These results suggest that individuals with ADHD do have a deficit in the inhibitory control of memory, but that this deficit may only be apparent when output interference is adequately controlled on the final test.

- by Benjamin Storm
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- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Cognitive Science, Retrieval-Induced Forgetting

This study investigated the influence of attention on the sensory integration component of postural control in young and older adults. Eighteen young and 18 older healthy subjects performed information-processing tasks during different postural challenge conditions. Postural conditions included seated, standing on a firm surface, standing on a sway-referenced floor, and standing on a sway-referenced floor while viewing a sway-referenced scene. During each condition, reaction time (RT) was measured during two simple and one inhibitory RT tasks. For the inhibitory task, the time required to inhibit an action was derived, termed the inhibitory time (IT). Performing a RT task was associated with increased postural sway in older subjects, but not in young subjects. The greatest influence of RT task on sway of older subjects was found during the sway-referenced floor/sway-referenced scene condition. Conversely, postural condition had an influence on RT task performance in both young and older subjects. The IT was increased in both young and older subjects only during the sway-referenced floor/scene condition. These results suggest that the sensory integration component of postural control in particular seems to require attention. Further, our data suggest that attentional processes related to inhibitory control are engaged when sensory integration requirements are high.

- by rabab badawy
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- Mechanical Engineering, Attention, Postural Control, Information Processing

This study examined whether individuals with substance dependence (ISDs) show impairments in working memory and whether there is a relationship between their impairments in decision making as measured by the gambling task (GT) paradigm and working memory as measured by a delayed nonmatching to sample (DNMS) task. Using the GT, 11% of healthy control participants and 61% of ISDs opted for choices with high immediate gains in spite of higher future losses. For the ISDs and controls with equal GT impairments, the ISDs performed significantly lower than controls on the DNMS task. The nonimpaired ISDs on the GT also performed significantly worse than matched controls on the DNMS task. The DNMS task deficit in ISDs was across all delay times, suggesting the deficit may lie in the &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;executive&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot; process of working memory, which supports earlier findings (E. M. Martin et al., 2003). The authors suggest that the prefrontal cortex hosts multiple distinct mechanisms of decision making and inhibitory control and that ISDs may be affected in any one or combination of them.

- by Eileen Martin
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- Psychology, Neuropsychology, Demography, Decision Making

The prominent clinical feature of behavioral impulsivity following traumatic brain injury (TBI) suggests impairment of frontal inhibitory control processes. This meta-analysis consolidates the recent surge in studies across two forms of “effortful” inhibition, employing well-defined paradigms of response inhibition (N = 20; i.e., go/no-go, sustained attention to response, stop-signal, Conners' continuous performance tasks) and response interference control (N = 21, i.e., Stroop color word tasks). Across 41 effect sizes involving 989 adults with mild to severe TBI and 969 controls, the overall effect of TBI on reduced inhibitory control was small to moderate (d = 0.3) and significant. The effect was larger in studies measuring response inhibition performance (d = 0.5), while Stroop interference control yielded a nonsignificant overall effect size (d = 0.05). Further analysis of the latter finding revealed a large effect size when Stroop task studies used the outcome measure “total time on task” (d = 1.4), but not “RT per trial” or “number of stimuli” (d = −0.8 and −0.9). Response speed in these tasks was impaired to a large degree (d = 0.96). Together these findings support a response inhibition deficit following TBI but suggest factors other than interference control, such as poor processing speed, fatigue, and underarousal, may underlie poor performance in Stroop tasks.

- by Marcos Cespedes
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- Psychology, Cognitive Science, Decision Making, Traumatic Brain Injury

ObjectivePrevious studies have shown smaller brain volume and less gray matter in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Relatively few morphological studies have examined structures thought to subserve inhibitory control, one of the diagnostic features of ADHD. We examined one such region, the pars opercularis, predicting a thinner cortex of the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) in children with ADHD.MethodStructural images were obtained from 49 children (24 control; 25 ADHD combined subtype) aged 9 though 15 years. Images were processed using a volumetric pipeline to provide a fully automated estimate of regional volumes of gray and white matter. A further analysis using FreeSurfer provided measures of cortical thickness for each lobe, and for 13 regions in the frontal lobe.ResultsRelative to controls, children with ADHD had smaller whole brain volume and lower gray matter, but not white matter, volumes in all lobes. An analysis of frontal regions showed a significant interaction of group by region. Planned contrasts showed bilateral thinner cortex in the pars opercularis in children with ADHD.ConclusionsChildren with ADHD showed both diffuse and regional gray matter abnormalities. Consistent with its putative role in response inhibition, the cortex of the pars opercularis was thinner in children with ADHD who, as expected, had significantly poorer inhibitory performance on a Go/No-go task. These differences held for both hemispheres raising the possibility that a developmental abnormality of IFG might drive development of inhibition difficulties.

- by Gaia Scerif and +1
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- Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Adolescent, Regional Planning

The stop-signal task has been used to study normal cognitive control and clinical dysfunction. Its utility is derived from a race model that accounts for performance and provides an estimate of the time it takes to stop a movement. This model posits a race between go and stop processes with stochastically independent finish times. However, neurophysiological studies demonstrate that the neural correlates of the go and stop processes produce movements through a network of interacting neurons. The juxtaposition of the computational model with the neural data exposes a paradox-how can a network of interacting units produce behavior that appears to be the outcome of an independent race? The authors report how a simple, competitive network can solve this paradox and provide an account of what is measured by stop-signal reaction time.

- by Leanne Boucher
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- Psychology, Cognitive Science, Cognitive Control, Cognition

Previous research has shown that episodic retrieval
recruits inhibitory processes that impair memory for related
events. We report two experiments examining whether inhibitory
processes may also be involved in causing semantic memory
lapses. In a semantic retrieval-practice paradigm, subjects were
given trials presenting a cue (a homograph in Experiment 1, a
category in Experiment 2) linked to many different items in
semantic memory. For each cue, subjects used general knowledge
to generate no (baseline), one, four, or eight different items
of semantic knowledge. Afterward, we determined through an
apparently unrelated free-association test whether a critical
nonpracticed concept associated to the cue had been inhibited.
Both experiments found that generating items from semantic
memory suppressed competing concepts, and that this impairment
was cue independent. These findings show that inhibitory
control processes overcome interference during semantic retrieval
and that recruitment of these processes may contribute to
semantic forgetting.

Freud proposed that unwanted memories can be forgotten by pushing them into the unconscious, a process called repression1. The existence of repression has remained controversial for more than a century, in part because of its strong coupling with trauma, and the ethical and practical difficulties of studying such processes in controlled experiments. However, behavioural and neurobiological research on memory and attention shows that people have executive control processes directed at minimizing perceptual distraction2, 3, overcoming interference during short and long-term memory tasks3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and stopping strong habitual responses to stimuli8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. Here we show that these mechanisms can be recruited to prevent unwanted declarative memories from entering awareness, and that this cognitive act has enduring consequences for the rejected memories. When people encounter cues that remind them of an unwanted memory and they consistently try to prevent awareness of it, the later recall of the rejected memory becomes more difficult. The forgetting increases with the number of times the memory is avoided, resists incentives for accurate recall and is caused by processes that suppress the memory itself. These results show that executive control processes not uniquely tied to trauma may provide a viable model for repression.

- by Michael Anderson
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- Cognitive Control, Retrieval-Induced Forgetting, Emotion Regulation, Forgetting
- by Yuko Munakata and +2
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- Prefrontal Cortex, Goals, Inhibitory Control

The objective of this study was to determine whether deficient inhibitory control distinguishes children with a diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity (ADHD) disorder, conduct disorder (CD), and comorbid ADHD + CD from normally developing children. Participants were rigorously diagnosed children (age 7 to 12 years) with ADHD (N = 72), CD (N = 13) or ADHD + CD (N = 47) and 33 control children (NC). We studied inhibitory control using the stop-signal paradigm, a laboratory task that assessed the ability to inhibit an ongoing action. The ADHD group had significantly impaired inhibitory control compared to NC, CD, and ADHD + CD children. These results indicate that children with ADHD have deficient inhibition as measured in the stop-signal paradigm and that ADHD occurring in the presence of ADHD + CD may represent a phenocopy of CD rather than a variant of ADHD.

- by victor mota
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- Psychology, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Comorbidity, Child
- by Kristin Schneider
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- Obesity, Adolescent, Multidisciplinary, Linear models

Aims Addiction has been conceptualized as a shift from controlled experimentation to uncontrolled, compulsive patterns of use. Current neurobiological models of addiction emphasize changes within the brain's reward system, such that drugs of abuse 'hijack' this system and bias behaviour towards further drug use. While this model explains the involuntary nature of craving and the motivational drive to continue drug use, it does not explain fully why some addicted individuals are unable to control their drug use when faced with potentially disastrous consequences. In this review, we argue that such maladaptive and uncontrolled behaviour is underpinned by a failure of the brain's inhibitory control mechanisms. Design Relevant neuroimaging, neuropsychological and clinical studies are reviewed, along with data from our own research. Findings The current literature suggests that in addition to the brain's reward system, two frontal cortical regions (anterior cingulate and orbitofrontal cortices), critical in inhibitory control over reward-related behaviour, are dysfunctional in addicted individuals. These same regions have been implicated in other compulsive conditions characterized by deficits in inhibitory control over maladaptive behaviours, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder. Conclusions We propose that in chronically addicted individuals, maladaptive behaviours and high relapse rates may be better conceptualized as being 'compulsive' in nature as a result of dysfunction within inhibitory brain circuitry, particularly during symptomatic states. This model may help to explain why some addicts lose control over their drug use, and engage in repetitive selfdestructive patterns of drug-seeking and drug-taking that takes place at the expense of other important activities. This model may also have clinical utility, as it allows for the adoption of treatments effective in other disorders of inhibitory dysregulation.

- by murat yucel
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- Addiction, Anterior Cingulate, Mechanism Design, Drug Use

When confronted with reminders to things that we would prefer
not to think about, we often attempt to put the unwanted memories out
of awareness. Here, I argue that the ability to control memory is a special
case of a broad class of situations thought to require executive control: response
override. In such situations, one must stop a strong habitual response
to a stimulus due to situational demands, a function thought to be
accomplished by inhibitory processes that suppress the response, enabling
more flexible, context-sensitive control over behavior. Recent behavioral
studies show that inhibitory mechanisms that control overt behavior are
also targeted at declarative memories to control retrieval. Recent neuroimaging
findings (Anderson et al., 2004) further establish that controlling
awareness of unwanted memories is associated with increased dorsolateral
prefrontal cortex activation, reduced hippocampal activation, and impaired
retention of the unwanted trace and that the magnitude of activation in prefrontal
cortex predicts memory suppression. These findings indicate that
cognitive and neural systems that support our ability to override prepotent
responses can be recruited to override declarative memory retrieval, and
that this cognitive act leads to memory failure. The relation between these
findings and those obtained with the directed forgetting procedure is also
discussed.

Three studies show that the retrieval process itself causes long-lasting forgetting. Ss studied 8 categories (e.g., Fruit). Half the members of half the categories were then repeatedly practiced through retrieval tests (e.g., Fruit Or ). Category-cued recall of unpracticed members of practiced categories was impaired on a delayed test. Experiments 2 and 3 identified 2 significant features of this retrieval-induced forgetting: The impairment remains when output interference is controlled, suggesting a retrieval-based suppression that endures for 20 min or more, and the impairment appears restricted to high-frequency members. Low-frequency members show little impairment, even in the presence of strong, practiced competitors that might be expected to block access to those items. These findings suggest a critical role for suppression in models of retrieval inhibition and implicate the retrieval process itself in everyday forgetting.

- by michael anderson
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- Psychology, Cognitive Science, Cognitive Control, Cognition

When confronted with reminders to an unpleasant memory, people often try to prevent the unwanted memory from coming to mind.
In this article, we review behavioral and neurocognitive evidence concerning the consequences of exerting such control over memory
retrieval. This work indicates that suppressing retrieval is accomplished by control mechanisms that inhibit the unwanted memories,
making them harder to recall later, even when desired. This process engages executive control mechanisms mediated by the lateral prefrontal
cortex to terminate recollection-related activity in the hippocampus. Together, these findings specify a neurocognitive model of
how memory control operates, suggesting that executive control may be an important means of down-regulating intrusive memories over
time. We conclude by proposing that individual differences in the regulation of intrusive memories in the aftermath of trauma may be
mediated by pre-existing differences in executive control ability. In support of this executive deficit hypothesis, we review the recent work
indicating links between executive control ability and memory suppression.

This research examined the relation between individual differences in inhibitory control (IC; a central component of executive functioning) and theory-of-mind (ToM) performance in preschool-age children. Across two sessions, 3-and 4-year-old children (N 107) were given multitask batteries measuring IC and ToM. Inhibi-tory control was strongly related to ToM, r .66, p .001. This relation remained significant controlling for age, gender, verbal ability, motor sequencing, family size, and performance on pretend-action and mental state control tasks. Inhibitory tasks requiring a novel response in the face of a conflicting prepotent response (Conflict scale) and those requiring the delay of a prepotent response (Delay scale) were significantly related to ToM. The Conflict scale, however, significantly predicted ToM performance over and above the Delay scale and control measures, whereas the Delay scale was not significant in a corresponding analysis. These findings suggest that IC may be a crucial enabling factor for ToM development, possibly affecting both the emergence and expression of mental state knowledge. The implications of the findings for a variety of executive accounts of ToM are discussed.

- by Stephanie M Carlson and +1
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- Theory of Mind, Executive Functions (Cognitive Neuroscience), Theory of Mind (Psychology), Executive Function

Three studies show that the retrieval process itself causes long-lasting forgetting. Ss studied 8 categories (e.g., Fruit). Half the members of half the categories were then repeatedly practiced through retrieval tests (e.g., Fruit Or_____). Category-cued recall of unpracticed members of practiced categories was impaired on a delayed test. Experiments 2 and 3 identified 2 significant features of this retrieval-induced forgetting: The impairment remains when output interference is controlled, suggesting a retrieval-based suppression that endures for 20 min or more, and the impairment appears restricted to high-frequency members. Low-frequency members show little impairment, even in the presence of strong, practiced competitors that might be expected to block access to those items. These findings suggest a critical role for suppression in models of retrieval inhibition and implicate the retrieval process itself in everyday forgetting.

- by Michael Anderson and +1
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- Psychology, Cognitive Science, Cognitive Control, Low Frequency

Several links between aspects of executive functioning and the development of social competence have been established. The present study investigates the relation between executive inhibitory control and cooperative/non-cooperative behavior, in an ecological setting, and from a longitudinal perspective. Elementary school children (n=195) of three age groups (7, 9, 11 years, initially) were measured at two consecutive time points, at a one-year interval, with tasks tapping executive inhibitory control (the Stroop test), and social competence (a collaborative puzzle solving task). Executive inhibition was identified as the most influential stable predictor only in the case of non-cooperative behavior and presented strong concurrent relations with both cooperative and non-cooperative behavior at follow-up, even when controlling for previous level of the same behavior. The findings imply the need to consider the important role of executive inhibitory processes in multifactorial models of social competence development and in the refinement of present interventions.

- by Laura Visu-Petra
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- Psychology, Child Development, Executive Function, Italy

Selectively retrieving an item from long-term memory reduces the accessibility of competing traces, a phenomenon known as retrievalinduced
forgetting (RIF). RIF exhibits cue independence, or the tendency for forgetting to generalize to novel test cues, suggesting an inhibitory
basis for this phenomenon. An alternative view (Camp, Pecher, & Schmidt, 2007; Camp et al., 2009; Perfect et al., 2004) suggests that using novel
test cues to measure cue independence actually engenders associative interference when participants covertly supplement retrieval with practiced
cues that then associatively block retrieval. Accordingly, the covert-cueing hypothesis assumes that the relative strength of the practiced items at
final test – and not the inhibition levied on the unpracticed items during retrieval practice – underlies cue-independent forgetting. As such, this
perspective predicts that strengthening practiced items by any means, even if not via retrieval practice, should induce forgetting. Contrary to these
predictions, however, we present clear evidence that cue-independent forgetting is induced by retrieval practice and not by repeated study
exposures. This dissociation occurred despite significant, comparable levels of strengthening of practiced items in each case, and despite the use of
Anderson and Spellman’s original (1995) independent probe method criticized by covert-cueing theorists as being especially conducive to
associative blocking. These results demonstrate that cue-independent RIF is unrelated to the strengthening of practiced items, and thereby fail to
support a key prediction of the covert-cueing hypothesis. The results, instead, favor a role of inhibition in resolving retrieval interference.

- by Michael Anderson and +1
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- Cognitive Psychology, Memory (Cognitive Psychology), Retrieval-Induced Forgetting, Forgetting

Inhibitory processes have been proposed to play an important role in resolving interference during
retrieval (M. C. Anderson, 2003; M. C. Anderson & Spellman, 1995). Supporting this view, retrieval
induces a negative aftereffect on competing items known as retrieval-induced forgetting (M. C. Anderson,
Bjork, & Bjork, 1994). Retrieval-induced forgetting often generalizes to novel cues used to test the
forgotten items, and this cue independence is considered diagnostic of inhibition. This interpretation of
cue independence assumes, however, that these novel cues (i.e., independent probes) are truly independent
of the original cues. Challenging this assumption, Camp, Pecher, Schmidt, and Zeelenberg (2009)
reported that extralist cuing test performance can be influenced by increasing the accessibility of other
nonpresented cues. Here we consider this evidence for nonindependence and the conditions under which
it occurs. We present two experiments demonstrating that this cue enhancement effect arises exclusively
whenever independent probes have uncontrolled semantic relationships to the study cues of the sort that
are specifically proscribed by the method—relationships not at all detected by association norms. When
such relationships are controlled, as they are in many studies of inhibition, cue enhancement effects
disappear. These findings highlight the importance of carefully controlling probe–cue relatedness in
research on cue-independent forgetting and suggest that cue independence is diagnostic of inhibition.

The stop signal task (stop task) is designed to assess inhibitory control and is a frequently used research tool in clinical disorders such as ADHD and schizophrenia. Previous methods of setting stop signal delay and of assessing... more

- by James Carter
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- Psychology, Schizophrenia, Visual perception, Attention

Executive functioning (EF) is an overarching term that refers to neuropsychological processes that enable physical, cognitive, and emotional self-control. Deficits in EF are often present in neurodevelopmental disorders, but examinations of the specificity of EF deficits and direct comparisons across disorders are rare. The current study investigated EF in 7-to 12-year-old children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and typical development using a comprehensive battery of measures assessing EF, including response inhibition, working memory, cognitive flexibility, planning, fluency and vigilance. The ADHD group exhibited deficits in vigilance, inhibition and working memory relative to the typical group; however, they did not consistently demonstrate problems on the remaining EF measures. Children with ASD showed significant deficits in vigilance compared with the typical group, and significant differences in response inhibition, cognitive flexibility/switching, and working memory compared with both groups. These results lend support for previous findings that show children with autism demonstrate generalized and profound impairment in EF. In addition, the observed deficits in vigilance and inhibitory control suggest that a significant number of children with ASD present with cognitive profiles consistent with ADHD.

- by Robert Hendren and +1
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- Psychiatry, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Cognition, Working Memory

This study investigated predictive relations between preschoolers' (N ϭ 310) behavioral regulation and emergent literacy, vocabulary, and math skills. Behavioral regulation was assessed using a direct measure called the Head-to-Toes Task, which taps inhibitory control, attention, and working memory, and requires children to perform the opposite of what is instructed verbally. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was utilized because children were nested in 54 classrooms at 2 geographical sites. Results revealed that behavioral regulation significantly and positively predicted fall and spring emergent literacy, vocabulary, and math skills on the Woodcock Johnson Tests of Achievement (all ps Ͻ .05). Moreover, growth in behavioral regulation predicted growth in emergent literacy, vocabulary, and math skills over the prekindergarten year (all ps Ͻ .05), after controlling for site, child gender, and other background variables. Discussion focuses on the role of behavioral regulation in early academic achievement and preparedness for kindergarten.

- by Carol M Connor
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- Psychology, Cognitive Science, Developmental Psychology, Mathematics

This paper examines conditions that have variously been called sensory integration disorder, sensory processing disorder, and sensory modulation disorder (SID/ SPD/SMD). As these conditions lack readily and consistently agreed-upon operational definitions, there has been confusion as to how these disorders are conceptualized. Rather than addressing various diagnostic controversies, we will instead focus upon explaining the symptoms that are believed to characterize these disorders. First, to clarify the overall context within which to view symptoms, we summarize a paradigm of adaptation characterized by continuous sensorimotor interaction with the environment. Next, we review a dual-tiered, integrated model of brain function in order to establish neuroanatomic underpinnings with which to conceptualize the symptom presentations. Generally accepted functions of the neocortex, basal ganglia, and cerebellum are described to illustrate how interactions between these brain regions generate both adaptive and pathological symptoms and behaviors. We then examine the symptoms of SID/SPD/SMD within this interactive model and in relation to their impact upon the development of inhibitory control, working memory, academic skill development, and behavioral automation.

- by Leonard Koziol and +1
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- Cognitive Science, Working Memory, Neural Network, Brain
- by F. Guirimand
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- Serotonin, Glutamate, Spinal Cord, Inhibitory Control

Abnormal regulation of the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) has been known to be involved in the pathogenesis of a variety of human diseases. A number of studies have focused on the identification of small modifiers for the UPS. Even though the proteasome inhibitor Bortezomib (Velcade ®) has been approved for the therapy of multiple myeloma and mantle cell lymphoma, there are still no DUB inhibitors endorsed for clinical usage. Since deubiquitinating enzymes (DUBs) are becoming as a new class of modifiers in the UPS, potential drugs that target specific DUBs have been investigated with the development of experimental technologies for screening small inhibitor molecules. However, the molecular mechanisms of these molecules are poorly understood. In order to design and develop specific small inhibitor molecules for specific DUBs, identification of specific substrates and molecular structures for each DUB is required. Here, we review structures, substrates, and small inhibitor molecules of DUBs identified up to date, providing a clear rationale for the development of novel small inhibitor molecules of DUBs for cancer.

- by Current Pharmaceutical Design
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- Health Sciences, Therapeutic Relationship, Cancer, Protein
- by Sandra Sepulveda-Kozakowski
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- Psychology, Cognitive Science, Developmental Psychology, Intelligence

Recent studies suggest brain oscillations as a mechanism for cerebral integration. Such integration can exist across a number of functional domains, with different frequency rhythms associated with each domain. Here, evidence is summarized which shows that delta oscillations depend on activity of motivational systems and participate in salience detection. Theta oscillations are involved in memory and emotional regulation. Alpha oscillations participate in inhibitory processes which contribute to a variety of cognitive operations such as attention and memory. The importance of inhibitory functions associated with alpha oscillations increases during the course of evolution. In ontogenesis, these functions develop later and may be more sensitive to a variety of detrimental environmental influences. In a number of developmental stages and pathological conditions, a deficient alpha and/or increased slow-wave activity are associated with cognitive deficits and a lack of inhibitory control. It is shown that slow-wave and alpha oscillations are reciprocally related to each other. This reciprocal relationship may reflect an inhibitory control over motivational and emotional drives which is implemented by the prefrontal cortex. r

- by Gennady Knyazev
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- Emotion, Electroencephalography, Emotion Regulation, Prefrontal Cortex

Studies have shown that regular video game use might improve cognitive and social skills. In contrast, other studies have documented the negative outcomes of excessive gaming visa -vis health and socio-professional spheres. Both positive and negative outcomes of video game use were linked to their structural characteristics (i.e., features that make the game appealing or are inducements for all gamers to keep playing regularly). The current study tested whether active video gamers from main genres (massively multiplayer online role-playing games, online first person shooter, multiplayer online battle arena) differed in a laboratory task that measured inhibitory control. Eighty-one gamers performed the Hybrid-Stop Task, assessing restraint (go/no-go trials) and cancellation (stop-signal trials) processes of a prepotent response. They completed additional self-reported questionnaires measuring demographics, problematic video game use, impulsivity traits, and depressive symptoms. Results showed that when confounding variables were controlled for, participants who favored online first person shooter were characterized by accelerated motor responses yet reduced abilities to cancel a prepotent response. No differences between groups were identified regarding the restraint process. The findings of this pilot study might have clear implications for video gaming research by supporting the critical importance of distinguishing between video game genres when considering their specific potential benefits and detrimental effects.

- by Jory Deleuze and +1
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- MMORPG, Gaming, Inhibition, Inhibitory Control

This study investigated the role of domain-general inhibitory control in trilingual speech production. Taking an individual differences approach, we examined the relationship between performance on a non-linguistic measure of inhibitory control (the Simon task) and a multilingual language switching task for a group of fifty-six native English (L1) speakers learning French (L2) and Spanish (L3). Better inhibitory control was related to reduced switch costs, but only when switching into or out of the more dominant L1, where inhibitory control has been theorized to be most important . The results provide evidence of a direct link between inhibitory control abilities and language switching capabilities, and suggest constraints on the conditions under which a domain-general inhibitory control mechanism supports language switching.

The authors examined a new assessment of behavioral regulation and contributions to achievement and teacher-rated classroom functioning in a sample (N ϭ 343) of kindergarteners from 2 geographical sites in the United States. Behavioral regulation was measured with the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders (HTKS) task, a structured observation requiring children to perform the opposite of a dominant response to 4 different oral commands. Results revealed considerable variability in HTKS scores. Evidence for construct validity was found in positive correlations with parent ratings of attentional focusing and inhibitory control and teacher ratings of classroom behavioral regulation. Hierarchical linear modeling indicated that higher levels of behavioral regulation in the fall predicted stronger levels of achievement in the spring and better teacher-rated classroom self-regulation (all ps Ͻ .01) but not interpersonal skills. Evidence for domain specificity emerged, in which gains in behavioral regulation predicted gains in mathematics but not in language and literacy over the kindergarten year ( p Ͻ .01) after site, child gender, and other background variables were controlled. Discussion focuses on the importance of behavioral regulation for successful adjustment to the demands of kindergarten.

- by Claire Cameron
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- Psychology, Cognitive Science, Developmental Psychology, Mathematics

Executive functions (EFs) refer to the higher-order processes needed to attain goal-directed behaviour. It is generally agreed that EFs involves three main cognitive functions – Working memory, inhibitory control, and task switching. Enhancement and maintenance of EFs had been investigated by applying cognitive training. Studies have reported mixed transfer results to EFs following focused training interventions. This paper focuses on randomized-task switching training spanned across a six-session intervention, whereby pretest and posttest assessment of nearby EFs were compared to passive controls. The training regimen included two randomized-task switching tasks. The transfer assessment focuses on the near-transfer criterion of EFs, i.e. working memory (AOSPAN & SymSpan), inhibitory control (Stop- Signal & ANT), and task switching (alternating-run paradigm). Results showed improvement in task-specific performance but no transfer to nearby EFs, and no transfer to the dissimilar alternating-run task switching paradigm. Results suggest that a randomized-task switching training intervention may not be as effective as the alternating-run task switching training, yet it may be catered to specific individuals displaying attentional control deficits.

It has been proposed that the unique need for early bilinguals to manage multiple languages while their executive control mechanisms are developing might result in long-term cognitive advantages on inhibitory control processes that generalize beyond the language domain. We review the empirical data from the literature on nonlinguistic interference tasks to assess the validity of this proposed bilingual inhibitory control advantage. Our review of these findings reveals that the bilingual advantage on conflict resolution, which by hypothesis is mediated by inhibitory control, is sporadic at best, and in some cases conspicuously absent. A robust finding from this review is that bilinguals typically outperform monolinguals on both compatible and incompatible trials, often by similar magnitudes. Together, these findings suggest that bilinguals do enjoy a more widespread cognitive advantage (a bilingual executive processing advantage) that is likely observable on a variety of cognitive assessment tools but that, somewhat ironically, is most often not apparent on traditional assays of nonlinguistic inhibitory control processes.

- by Raymond Klein
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- Psychology, Cognitive Science, Multilingualism, Cognitive Control

Previous research demonstrates that bilinguals have an advatange over monolinguals in several extra-linguistic domains. Using the Simon Task, which putatively measures inhibitory control, illustrate that early bilinguals are faster and show less of a Simon effect than monolinguals, a disparity that becomes more pronounced in late adulthood. The posited mechanisms responsible for this advantage is enhanced inhibitory control and selective attention, due to life long daily use of two languages. However, there is some contention regarding both which cognitive functions are implicated in the Simon task and whether inhibitory control is the major mechanism underlying bilingual language processing. Previous studies have focused on highly proficient early bilinguals who may mobilize subtly different processes compared to other bilingual groups. The present study attempts to elucidate the mechanisms responsible for this bilingual cognitive advantage by comparing early and late bilinguals on both the Simon task and the Garner task, which measures selective attention, without requiring the inhibition of a response. In addition, results on the Simon task are reinterpreted to uncover an event file effect, a measure of cognitive flexibility . Our question is: Can a second language learned in adulthood bestow the same cognitive advantage as one learned early in life? We predicted that bilinguals would demonstrate less of a Simon effect and of a Garner effect than monolinguals, with differential results for the two bilingual groups. We also expected that bilinguals would show less of an event file effect than monolinguals. We found main effects for age and congruency on the Simon task, an event file effect across all groups which interacted with age, and no Garner interference for any groups. Limitations of the present study are addressed. Further directions to reveal the dynamics of the bilingual mind are suggested.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is estimated to affect one in 68 children. Given the increase in both prevalence and awareness of ASD, it is critical to provide accurate and timely diagnosis. However, ASD often co-occurs with other disorders, making diagnosis difficult. The objective of the current case study was to provide two examples of differential diagnosis in ASD and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) observed in an autism clinic. In both cases, the goal was to decide whether each child should be given a diagnosis of ASD, PTSD, or both.

- by Jan Blacher
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- Education, Autism, Adolescent, Executive Control

In this study, the locus of language selection in bilingual lexical access is investigated based on some basic factors such as first languages, second language proficiency, age of acquisition and multilingualism. In particular, this study explores competition between bilinguals’ languages and proposes two language selection models; Inhibitory Control Model (Green, 1998) and Concept Selection Model (La Heij, 2005). In experiment 1, the participants were asked to perform a word translation task from their second language (L2) to first language (L1). Each target was accompanied by a distracter item in the form of a picture or a word which was related/unrelated to the target word semantically. As a result, all participants translated target words faster when they are accompanied with semantically related/unrelated word distracters than picture distracters. On the other hand, they translated target words faster when they are accompanied with unrelated word distracters than related word distracters. Finally, they translated target words faster when they are accompanied with related picture distracters than unrelated picture distracters. In experiment 2, participants were asked to perform a switching task with the numbers in their first language and second language according to the background color of the digits. Finally, the language switching cost was larger when switching from L2 to L1 than vice versa. The results have shown that while the factors such as L1 andage of acquisition do not affect the locus of language selection during lexical access, proficiency in L2 and multilingualism factors affect the locus of language selection.

- by Fatma Demiray Akbulut and +1
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- Bilingualism and Multilingualism, Lexical Selection, Inhibitory Control, Concept Selection Model

We propose a framework to understand increases in vulnerability for depression after recurrent episodes that links attention processes and schema activation to negative mood states, by integrating cognitive and neurobiological findings. Depression is characterized by a mood-congruent attentional bias at later stages of information processing. The basic idea of our framework is that decreased activity in prefrontal areas, mediated by the serotonin metabolism which the HPA axis controls, is associated with an impaired attenuation of subcortical regions, resulting in prolonged activation of the amygdala in response to stressors in the environment. Reduced prefrontal control in interaction with depressogenic schemas leads to impaired ability to exert attentional inhibitory control over negative elaborative processes such as rumination, leading in turn to sustained negative affect. These elaborative processes are triggered by the activation of negative schemas after confrontation with stressors. In our framework, attentional impairments are postulated as a crucial process in explaining the increasing vulnerability after depressive episodes, linking cognitive and biological vulnerability factors. We review the empirical data on the biological factors associated with the attentional impairments and detail how they are associated with rumination and mood regulation. The aim of our framework is to stimulate translational research.

- by Ernst Koster
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- Psychology, Depression, Attention, Cognitive Neuroscience

Aging causes physical and cognitive impairment, which in turn, interfere with the aged people's health. As a common complication in the elderly, cognitive impairment has attracted the attention of many specialists. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to investigate the effectiveness of a period of brain gym exercises on the balance and inhibitory control in the elderly with mild cognitive impairment. This was a quasiexperimental study with pretest-posttest and control group design. The statistical population of this study consisted of all the elderly with mild cognitive impairment living in Urmia, Iran in 2020. The sample included 30 elderly with mild cognitive impairment, aged from 60 to 80 years (77.69±1.98), selected using convenience sampling method and according to the inclusion criteria, and assigned randomly into two groups of experimental and control with 15 members each. To evaluate the balance and inhibitory control in pre-test and post-test, participants were instructed to perform the Mathias et al.'s Timed Up and Go (TUG), and Hoffman's Go/No Go test. The experimental group were asked to perform three 30-minute sessions of Dennison and Dennison's brain gym exercises a week for eight weeks. The data were analyzed using the Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) in SPSS-24. The results indicated that after controlling of the pre-test scores, there was a significant difference between the control and experimental groups in terms of Timed Up and Go and inhibitory control (P=0.001). Based on the findings of the current study, due to the ease of implementation of brain gym exercises, they can be used by sports and rehabilitation Coaches in order to improve the balance and inhibitory control of the elderly with cognitive impairment.

- by Aging Psychology
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- Mild Cognitive Impairment, Elderly, Balance, Brain Gym

Bilinguals have been shown to outperform monolinguals at suppressing task-irrelevant information. The present study aimed to identify how processing linguistic ambiguity during auditory comprehension may be associated with inhibitory control. Monolinguals and bilinguals listened to words in their native language (English) and identified them among four pictures while their eye-movements were tracked. Each target picture (e.g., hamper) appeared together with a similar-sounding within-language competitor picture (e.g., hammer) and two neutral pictures. Following each eye-tracking trial, priming probe trials indexed residual activation of target words, and residual inhibition of competitor words. Eye-tracking showed similar within-language competition across groups; priming showed stronger competitor inhibition in monolinguals than in bilinguals, suggesting differences in how inhibitory control was used to resolve within-language competition. Notably, correlation analyses revealed that inhibition performance on a nonlinguistic Stroop task was related to linguistic competition resolution in bilinguals but not in monolinguals. Together, monolingual-bilingual comparisons suggest that cognitive control mechanisms can be shaped by linguistic experience.

- by Henrike Blumenfeld and +1
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- Perception, Eye tracking, Multilingualism, Auditory Perception

This study investigated direct and indirect effects of executive functions on reading comprehension in adolescents (N = 87, M = 14.0 years, SD = 1.5) by testing for parallel mediation of effects of working memory, task-switching, and inhibitory control via decoding and text recall/inference. Working memory showed direct and indirect effects on passage comprehension, the latter mediated by text recall/inference. Task-switching was associated with decoding, but its relation to passage comprehension was not significant. Inhibitory control showed indirect effects on passage comprehension via decoding and text recall/inference. Results indicate overlapping but distinct contributions of executive functions to reading skills.

- by Teresa Ober
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- Working Memory, Reading Comprehension, Task Switching, Executive Functions

This study examined the role of self-regulation in emerging academic ability in one hundred and forty-one 3-to 5-year-old children from low-income homes. Measures of effortful control, false belief understanding, and the inhibitory control and attention-shifting aspects of executive function in preschool were related to measures of math and literacy ability in kindergarten. Results indicated that the various aspects of child self-regulation accounted for unique variance in the academic outcomes independent of general intelligence and that the inhibitory control aspect of executive function was a prominent correlate of both early math and reading ability. Findings suggest that curricula designed to improve self-regulation skills as well as enhance early academic abilities may be most effective in helping children succeed in school.

- by Rachel Razza
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- Psychology, Cognitive Science, Mathematics, Poverty

This article describes the development, reliability, and factor structure of a finely differentiated (18 dimensions) parent-report measure of temperament in 1.5-to 3-year-old children, using a cross-sectional sample (N = 317) and a longitudinal sample of primary (N = 104) and secondary (N = 61) caregivers. Adequate internal consistency was demonstrated for all scales and moderate inter-rater reliability was evident for most scales. Longitudinal stability correlations were primarily large over 6-and 12-month spans and moderate to large from 18 to 36 months. Factor analysis revealed a three-factor structure of Surgency/Extraversion, Negative Affectivity, and Effortful Control. In both samples and for both primary and secondary caregivers, older children received higher scores for Attention Focusing, Discomfort, Inhibitory Control, and Positive Anticipation. Primary caregivers rated females higher in Fear, and lower in High-intensity Pleasure, than males; secondary caregivers rated females higher than males in several aspects of Effortful Control.

- by Mary Rothbart
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- Psychology, Cognitive Science, Assessment, Research Design

In many teleosts, dopamine (DA) exerts direct inhibitory control on gonadotropes, counteracting the stimulatory effect of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) on gonadotropin release. This dual control by GnRH and DA has been demonstrated in various adult teleosts and has major implications for aquaculture. Because of its unique life cycle, the European eel has provided a powerful model for demonstrating the key role of DA in the control of puberty. Data from tetrapods suggest that the inhibitory role of DA on reproduction is not restricted to the teleosts. Thus, DA inhibitory control could represent an ancient evolutionary component in the neuroendocrine regulation of reproduction that may have been differentially maintained throughout vertebrate evolution. The intensity of DA inhibition, its main site of action, and its involvement in the control of puberty, seasonal reproduction, ovulation, spermiation, or even sex change may differ among classes of vertebrates, as well as within smaller phylogenetic units such as teleosts or mammals. An inhibitory role for DA has been reported also in some invertebrates, indicating that neuronal DA pathways may have been recruited in various groups of metazoa to participate in the control of reproduction. In addition to the incontestable GnRH neurons, the recruitment of DA neurons for the neuroendocrine control of reproduction provides an additional brain pathway for the integration of various speciesspecific, internal, and environmental cues. In teleosts, the plasticity of the DA neuroendocrine role may have contributed to their large diversity of biological cycles and to their successful adaptation to various environments.

- by F.-a Weltzien
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- Reproduction, Multidisciplinary, Dopamine, Seasonality