Lack of consistent individual differences in rats on tasks that require response inhibition

AbstractInhibitory control is the ability to suppress inappropriate movements and unwanted actions, allowing to regulate impulses and responses. This ability can be measured via the Stop Signal Task, which provides a temporal index of response inhibition, namely the stop signal reaction time (SSRT). At the neural level, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) allows to investigate motor inhibition within the primary motor cortex (M1), such as the cortical silent period (CSP) which is an index of GABAB-mediated intracortical inhibition within M1. Although there is strong evidence that intracortical inhibition varies during action stopping, it is still not clear whether differences in the neurophysiological markers of intracortical inhibition contribute to behavioral differences in actual inhibitory capacities. Hence, here we explored the relationship between intracortical inhibition within M1 and behavioral response inhibition. GABABergic-mediated inhibition in M1 was determined by the duration of CSP, while behavioral inhibition was assessed by the SSRT. We found a significant positive correlation between CSP’s duration and SSRT, namely that individuals with greater levels of GABABergic-mediated inhibition seem to perform overall worse in inhibiting behavioral responses. These results support the assumption that individual differences in intracortical inhibition are mirrored by individual differences in action stopping abilities.

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Uncontrolled Eating in Healthy Women Has Limited Influence on Food Reward Sensitivity and Food-Related Inhibitory Control

10.31234/osf.io/an7se ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Maud Grol ◽

Luis Cásedas ◽

Danna Oomen ◽

Desirée Spronk ◽

Elaine Fox

Keyword(s):

Individual Differences ◽

Food Consumption ◽

Inhibitory Control ◽

Response Inhibition ◽

Food Reward ◽

Reward Sensitivity ◽

Specific Response ◽

High Tendency ◽

Healthy Women ◽

Uncontrolled Eating

Uncontrolled eating—in the general population—is characterized by overeating, hedonic hunger and being drawn towards palatable foods. Theoretically, it is the result of a strong food reward signal in relation to a poor ability to exert inhibitory control. How food consumption influences inhibitory control and food reward sensitivity, and how this relates to the continued urge to eat, remains unclear though. We used fMRI (N=40) in order to investigate the neural mechanism underlying food reward sensitivity and food-specific response inhibition (go-nogo task), by comparing women reporting high versus low/average uncontrolled eating across two sessions: during an inter-meal hunger state and after consumption of a high-caloric snack. We found no effects of individual differences in uncontrolled eating, food consumption, nor their interaction on food reward sensitivity. Differences in uncontrolled eating and food consumption did interact in modulating activity in the left superior occipital gyrus during response inhibition of non-food stimuli, an area previously associated with successful nogo- vs. go-trials. Yet, behavioural performance on the go-nogo task was not modulated by uncontrolled eating nor food consumption. Women with a low/average tendency for uncontrolled eating may need more cognitive resources to support successful response inhibition of non-food stimuli during food ‘go’ blocks in an inter-meal hunger state, whereas women with a high tendency for uncontrolled eating showed this after food consumption. Considering current and previous findings, it seems that individual differences in uncontrolled eating in healthy women have only limited influence on food reward sensitivity and food-related inhibitory control, whereas differences in weight status (e.g., obesity) may have more impact.

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Novel-word learning, executive control and working memory: A bilingual advantage

Bilingualism Language and Cognition ◽

10.1017/s136672891800041x ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 22 (04) ◽

pp. 763-782 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

MEESHA A. WARMINGTON ◽

SWATHI KANDRU-POTHINENI ◽

GRAHAM J. HITCH

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Individual Differences ◽

Word Learning ◽

Response Inhibition ◽

Executive Control ◽

Verbal Working Memory ◽

Bilingual Advantage ◽

Independent Replication ◽

Novel Word Learning ◽

Almost All

Studies of the effects of bilingualism on cognition have given results that do not consistently replicate, reflecting at least in part wide differences in criteria for bilingualism and heterogeneity of language combinations within studied samples. We examined the bilingual advantage in attention, working memory and novel-word learning in early sequential Hindi–English bilinguals. We sought to clarify the aspects of cognition that benefit from bilingualism by using multiple measures and a sample sufficiently well-defined to permit independent replication. Bilinguals outperformed monolinguals on response inhibition, novel-word learning and almost all working memory tasks. In contrast, both groups performed comparably on selective attention. Analyses of individual differences showed that bilingual novel-word learning was related to their verbal working memory and ability to inhibit an ongoing action, whereas this was not the case for monolinguals. Results indicate a specific bilingual advantage that is confined to some but not all aspects of cognition.

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Research on individual differences in executive functions

Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism ◽

10.1075/lab.15041.fri ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 6 (5) ◽

pp. 535-548 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Naomi P. Friedman

Keyword(s):

Individual Differences ◽

Executive Functions ◽

Response Inhibition ◽

General Purpose ◽

Control Mechanisms ◽

Set Shifting ◽

Interference Control ◽

Bilingual Advantage ◽

Language Control ◽

Multicomponent Nature

Abstract Executive functions (EFs), such as response inhibition, interference control, and set shifting, are general-purpose control mechanisms that enable individuals to regulate their thoughts and behaviors. Because bilingual individuals use EF-like processes during language control, researchers have become interested in the hypothesis that this use might train EFs, resulting in better performance on non-linguistic EF tasks. Although this bilingual advantage hypothesis seems straightforward to test, it involves a number of important decisions in terms of how to assess bilingualism and EFs. In this article, I focus on the complexity of measuring EFs, drawing on individual differences research (conducted with participants not selected for bilingualism). Specifically, I discuss issues related to (1) the measurement of EFs (particularly the effects of task impurity and unreliability) and (2) the multicomponent nature of EFs. Within each of these topics, I elaborate on consequences for research on bilingual advantages and provide some recommendations.

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Individual Differences in the Neural Basis of Response Inhibition After Sleep Deprivation Are Mediated by Chronotype

Frontiers in Neurology ◽

10.3389/fneur.2019.00514 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 10 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jingjing Song ◽

Pan Feng ◽

Xin Wu ◽

Bingbing Li ◽

Yanchen Su ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Individual Differences ◽

Sleep Deprivation ◽

Response Inhibition ◽

Neural Basis

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Individual Differences in the Neural Dynamics of Response Inhibition

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn_a_01458 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 31 (12) ◽

pp. 1976-1996 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

M. Fiona Molloy ◽

Giwon Bahg ◽

Zhong-Lin Lu ◽

Brandon M. Turner

Keyword(s):

Individual Differences ◽

Cognitive Control ◽

Response Inhibition ◽

Bayesian Models ◽

Accurate Estimation ◽

Hierarchical Bayesian ◽

Hierarchical Bayesian Models ◽

Data Set ◽

Individual Level ◽

Aggregate Information

Response inhibition is a widely studied aspect of cognitive control that is particularly interesting because of its applications to clinical populations. Although individual differences are integral to cognitive control, so too is our ability to aggregate information across a group of individuals, so that we can powerfully generalize and characterize the group's behavior. Hence, an examination of response inhibition would ideally involve an accurate estimation of both group- and individual-level effects. Hierarchical Bayesian analyses account for individual differences by simultaneously estimating group and individual factors and compensate for sparse data by pooling information across participants. Hierarchical Bayesian models are thus an ideal tool for studying response inhibition, especially when analyzing neural data. We construct hierarchical Bayesian models of the fMRI neural time series, models assuming hierarchies across conditions, participants, and ROIs. Here, we demonstrate the advantages of our models over a conventional generalized linear model in accurately separating signal from noise. We then apply our models to go/no-go and stop signal data from 11 participants. We find strong evidence for individual differences in neural responses to going, not going, and stopping and in functional connectivity across the two tasks and demonstrate how hierarchical Bayesian models can effectively compensate for these individual differences while providing group-level summarizations. Finally, we validated the reliability of our findings using a larger go/no-go data set consisting of 179 participants. In conclusion, hierarchical Bayesian models not only account for individual differences but allow us to better understand the cognitive dynamics of response inhibition.

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The Influence of Alcohol Ingestion on Cognitive Response Inhibition and Error Processing

Journal of Psychophysiology ◽

10.1027/0269-8803/a000039 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 24 (4) ◽

pp. 253-258 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Xavier Noël ◽

Claude Tomberg ◽

Paul Verbanck ◽

Salvatore Campanella

Keyword(s):

Individual Differences ◽

Alcohol Consumption ◽

Cognitive Processes ◽

Response Inhibition ◽

Executive Control ◽

Alcohol Ingestion ◽

Error Processing ◽

Cognitive Response ◽

Prepotent Response ◽

Behavior And Cognition

Alcohol consumption has been known to affect behavior and cognition. In this paper, we review evidence for the idea that alcohol disrupts two important cognitive processes critical to flexible interaction with a changing environment: the individual’s ability to successfully and intentionally inhibit or suppress a prepotent response, and to detect the occurrence of an error. In compromising an individual’s ability to withhold a prepotent response and in attenuating the brain’s capacity to detect action slips, the consumption of alcohol may also prevent the mobilization of further flexible executive control in response to environmental prompts (e.g., to stop drinking when intending to drive a car). Individual differences in these cognitive processes prior to or following the ingestion of alcohol are also discussed.

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