The current study uses reach tracking to investigate how cognitive control is implemented during online performance of the Stroop task (Experiment 1) and the Eriksen flanker task (Experiment 2). We demonstrate that two of the measures afforded by reach tracking, initiation time and reach curvature, capture distinct patterns of effects that have been linked to dissociable processes underlying cognitive control in electrophysiology and functional neuroimaging research. Our results suggest that initiation time reflects a response threshold adjustment process involving the inhibition of motor output, while reach curvature reflects the degree of co-activation between response alternatives registered by a monitoring process over the course of a trial. In addition to shedding new light on fundamental questions concerning how these processes contribute to the cognitive control of behavior, these results present a framework for future research to investigate how these processes function across different tasks, develop across the lifespan, and differ among individuals.

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The authors propose and test a causal model theory of reasoning about conditional arguments with causal content. According to the theory, the acceptability of modus ponens (MP) and affirming the consequent (AC) reflect the conditional likelihood of causes and effects based on a probabilistic causal model of the scenario being judged. Acceptability of MP is a judgment of causal power, the probability that the antecedent cause is efficacious in bringing about the consequent effect. Acceptability of AC is a judgment of diagnostic strength, the probability of the antecedent cause given the consequent effect. The model proposes that acceptability judgments are derived from a causal Bayesian network with a common effect structure in which the probability of the consequent effect is a function of the antecedent cause, alternative causes, and disabling conditions. In 2 experiments, the model was tested by collecting judgments of the causal parameters of conditionals and using them to derive predictions for MP and AC acceptability using 0 free parameters. To assess the validity of the model, its predictions were fit to the acceptability ratings and compared to the fits of 3 versions of Mental Models Theory. The fits of the causal model theory were superior. Experiment 3 provides direct evidence that people engage in a causal analysis and not a direct calculation of conditional probability when assessing causal conditionals. The causal model theory represents a synthesis across the disparate literatures on deductive, probabilistic, and causal reasoning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).

Researchers have proposed that two processes featuring distinct types of inhibition support inhibitory control: a response threshold adjustment process involving the global inhibition of motor output and a conflict resolution process involving competitive inhibition among co-active response alternatives. To target the development of these processes, we measured the reaching behavior of 5- to 10-year-olds (Experiment 1) and adults (Experiment 2) as they performed an Eriksen flanker task. This method provided two key measures: initiation time (the time elapsed between stimulus onset and movement onset) and reach curvature (the degree to which a movement deviates from a direct path to the selected target). We suggest that initiation time reflects the response threshold adjustment process by indexing the degree of motoric stopping experienced before a movement is started, while reach curvature reflects the conflict resolution process by indexing the degree of co-activation between response alternatives over the course of a movement. Our results support this claim, revealing different patterns effects in initiation time and curvature, and divergent developmental trajectories between childhood and adulthood. These findings provide behavioral evidence for the dissociation between global and competitive inhibition, and offer new insight into the development of inhibitory control.

Six- to 8-year-olds, 10- to 12-year-olds, and adults (N = 108) performed the Simon task by reaching to targets on a digital display. The spatial and temporal characteristics of their movements were used to assess how two key processes underlying cognitive control-a threshold adjustment process and a controlled selection process-unfold over the course of a response (within-trial dynamics), are modulated by recent experience (cross-trial dynamics), and contribute to age-related gains in control (developmental dynamics). The results indicate that the controlled selection process undergoes a more protracted development than the threshold adjustment process. The results also shed light on a prominent debate concerning the cross-trial dynamics of control by supporting the feature integration account over the conflict adaptation account.