Interrupting on-going action as a form of cognitive control: individual differences and electrophysiological measures in stopsignal response inhibition
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1
University of Newcastle, Australia
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2
Swinburne University, Australia
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3
York University, United Kingdom
A core feature of the cognitive control system is the ability to flexibly interrupt planned and on-going actions (Logan & Cowan, 1984; Miyake et al., 2000). In conjunction with behavioural methods, the high temporal resolution of ERPs was exploited to investigate neural dynamics of individual differences in Stopsignal response inhibition. Stopsignal trials begin with a Go stimulus, but after a brief delay a Stopsignal (usually a tone) is presented instructing the participant to inhibit the Go response cued on that trial. The delay between Go stimulus and Stopsignal onsets, termed the Stopsignal Delay (SSD), is positively correlated with the likelihood of successfully stopping. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between estimates of inhibition processing speed known as the Stopsignal reaction time (SSRT) and Stopsignal ERPs. A stopsignal paradigm was employed that varied the difficulty of inhibition by exploiting individual differences in SSRT. Inhibition difficulty for individuals was construed as the ratio of inhibition processing speed (SSRT) relative to the time given for inhibition to be accomplished (Go RT – SSD). There were four key findings: (1) Peak amplitudes of both N1 and P3 potentials elicited by Stopsignals were larger for successful Stops compared to Stopfailures; (2) peak latency of Stop-P3 was shorter than for Stopfailure-P3; (3) SSRT was inversely related to larger Stop-P3 peak amplitude at frontal electrodes (Fz); (4) SSRT was not related to Stop-P3 peak latency, but was predicted by shorter latency differences between Stop-N1 (index of Stopsignal detection) and Stop-P3 peaks at Fz. These results indicate cognitive control early in the processing of a stop command is crucial for effective interruption of a planned response. Funding: Supported by Schizophrenia Research Institute, Hunter Medical Research Institute, University of Newcastle Research Grant, NHMRC #386501.
Keywords:
cognitive control,
EEG
Conference:
XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI), Palma, Mallorca, Spain, 25 Sep - 29 Sep, 2011.
Presentation Type:
Poster Presentation
Topic:
Poster Sessions: Performance Monitoring and Cognitive Control
Citation:
Michie
P,
Hughes
ME,
Fulham
WR and
Patrick
JJ
(2011). Interrupting on-going action as a form of cognitive control: individual differences and electrophysiological measures in stopsignal response inhibition.
Conference Abstract:
XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI).
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2011.207.00246
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Received:
21 Nov 2011;
Published Online:
28 Nov 2011.
*
Correspondence:
Dr. Pat Michie, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, Australia, pat.michie@newcastle.edu.au