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Inhibitory Control Processes and the Strategies That Support Them during Hand and Eye Movements
Schmitt, Lauren M. Ankeny, Lisa D. Sweeney, John A. Mosconi, Matthew W.
Schmitt, Lauren M.
Ankeny, Lisa D.
Sweeney, John A.
Mosconi, Matthew W.
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Abstract
Background and Aims: Adaptive behavior depends on the ability to voluntarily
suppress context-inappropriate behaviors, a process referred to as response inhibition.
Stop Signal tests (SSTs) are the most frequently studied paradigm used to assess
response inhibition. Previous studies of SSTs have indicated that inhibitory control
behavior can be explained using a common model in which GO and STOP processes
are initiated independent from one and another, and the process that is completed first
determines whether the behavior is elicited (GO process) or terminated (STOP process).
Consistent with this model, studies have indicated that individuals strategically delay
their behaviors during SSTs in order to increase their stopping abilities. Despite being
controlled by distinct neural systems, prior studies have largely documented similar
inhibitory control performance across eye and hand movements. Though, no existing
studies have compared the extent to which individuals strategically delay behavior
across different effectors is not yet clear. Here, we compared the extent to which
inhibitory control processes and the cognitive strategies that support them during
oculomotor and manual motor behaviors.
Methods: We examined 29 healthy individuals who performed parallel oculomotor
and manual motor SSTs. Participants also completed a separate block of GO trials
administered prior to the Stop Signal tests to assess baseline reaction times for each
effector and reaction time increases during interleaved GO trials of the SST.
Results: Our results showed that stopping errors increased for both effectors as
the interval between GO and STOP cues was increased (i.e., stop signal delay), but
performance deteriorated more rapidly for eye compared to hand movements with
increases in stop signal delay. During GO trials, participants delayed the initiation
of their responses for each effector, and greater slowing of reaction times on GO
trials was associated with increased accuracy on STOP trials for both effectors.
However, participants delayed their eye movements to a lesser degree than their hand
movements, and strategic reaction time slowing was a stronger determinant of stopping
accuracy for hand compared to eye movements. Overall, stopping accuracies for eye
and hand movements were only modestly correlated, and the time it took individuals to
cancel a response was not related for eye and hand movements.
Discussion and Conclusion: Our findings that GO and STOP processes are
independent and that individuals strategically delay their behavioral responses to
increase stopping accuracy regardless of effector indicate that inhibitory control of
Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org 1 December 2016 | Volume 7 | Article 1927
Schmitt et al. Inhibitory Control of Hand and Eye Movements
oculomotor and manual motor behaviors both follow common guiding principles.
Yet, our findings document that eye movements are more difficult to inhibit than
hand movements, and the timing, magnitude, and impact of cognitive control
strategies used to support voluntary response inhibition are less robust for eye
compared to hand movements. This suggests that inhibitory control systems also
show unique characteristics that are behavior-dependent. This conclusion is consistent
with neurophysiological evidence showing important differences in the architecture and
functional properties of the neural systems involved in inhibitory control of eye and hand
movements. It also suggests that characterizing inhibitory control processes in health
and disease requires effector-specific analysis.
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Date
2016-12-09
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Frontiers Media
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Keywords
Stop Signal test, Inhibitory control, Response inhibition
Citation
Schmitt LM, Ankeny LD, Sweeney JA and Mosconi MW (2016) Inhibitory Control Processes and the Strategies That Support Them during Hand and Eye Movements. Front. Psychol. 7:1927. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01927