Traditional response inhibition tasks are assumed to capture one’s ability to inhibit a response. This ability, however, requires a reactive process and a proactive process, post-error slowing (PES). Recent evidence shows that Stop-Signal Tasks (SSTs) measure the reactive process, and while the Sustained Attention to Response Task measures overall response inhibition, that measure is confounded by a proactive process. Since the diseases associated with response inhibition deficits often co-occur with symptoms that diminish the capacity for lengthy behavioural testing, and, since it is unknown to which process such decrements can be attributed and where in the brain these processes are generated, rapid and precise measurement of reactive and proactive processes is important. To address these issues, we administered a battery of four response inhibition tasks to healthy young adults (N = 123), two SSTs and two Go/No-Go tasks. In three tasks, we implemented adaptations to allow direct observation of proactive inhibition, reactive inhibition, and overall response inhibition. We introduce a novel cueing procedure to investigate the possibility of a predictive mechanism of proactive inhibition, arguing that slower response times on trials with a higher Stop/No-Go probability indicate predictive proactive inhibition. Based on these findings, we propose a novel demarcation to proactive inhibition: remedial proactive inhibition (PES), and predictive proactive inhibition. Additionally, we provide empirical support for a Bayesian adaptive staircase (Livesey & Livesey, 2016) that allows rapid convergence on estimates of reactive inhibition in SSTs in as few as 20 trials that are robust against potential predictive proactive inhibition confounds.
The empowering function of the belief in a just world for the self (BJW-self) has been suggested as one mechanism by which BJW-self promotes positive psychological functioning for the individual. In this investigation we seek to understand if this empowerment function generalises to a broad range of positive and negative psychological variables and whether the function can be observed outside of tightly controlled experimental designs. We use a mix of cross-sectional and longitudinal designs (N = 840) to test these aspects of the empowerment function. In Sample 1 we find support for the positive indirect effect of BJW-self on life satisfaction, optimism, and resilience through empowerment. Similarly, BJW-self has a negative indirect effect on depression, anxiety, and stress through empowerment. These findings are broadly replicated in Sample 2. A subsample of Sample 1 completed measures again after one year (Subsample 3) allowing for a longitudinal test of the empowerment function. Findings provide mixed support for the empowering contribution of BJW-self to adaptive outcomes over time. Theoretical implications are discussed, as well as the important methodological and measurement issues that require attention for the individual differences study of BJW to progress effectively.
The slowing down of a response after committing an error in speeded response tasks has been reliably observed over the last 60 years, but no explanation has yet been articulated to account for it. Post-error slowing (PES) is thought to reflect a proactive mechanism to improve one’s chances of successfully inhibiting a response or selecting the correct response from an array of possibilities. Recently, Dutilh and colleagues (2012a) used computational modelling to compare how well several accounts of PES fit real and simulated data. They concluded that PES is the result of participants widening their response boundaries, which they assumed corresponds to increased caution. This explanation supports a proactive account of PES. We used EEG to test the same four accounts modelled by Dutilh and colleagues to provide direct neural evidence to supplement their simulated data. In a Go/NoGo task administered to N = 100 healthy young adults (24.3 ± 4.8 yrs), we mapped ERP parameters to the theoretical drift parameters established by Dutilh and colleagues. Their hypothesis would predict larger N2 after errors and that the amplitude of the N2 should correlate with magnitude of PES. Our results did not support these predictions (N2 amplitude was smaller after errors, p = .015, and there was no correlation between N2 amplitude and PES, p = .523). Our findings support another common account of PES, a disorienting account, that supposes errors disrupt attentional processing. The post-error anterior N1 was significantly disrupted by errors (p = .020) and was correlated with the magnitude of PES (p = .016). We, therefore, suggest that PES is not completely proactive, but rather is partially the consequence of disruptions to attentional processing that only incidentally improve response inhibition by offsetting the initiation of response execution. Interestingly, the post-error N1 in older adults was diminished (p = .0008), but higher general intelligence rescued such disruptions to attention (p < .0001), indicating a partial compensatory mechanism in ageing that is supported by general intelligence.
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