Current advances and pressing problems in studies of stopping

Abstract

The stop-signal task probes agents’ ability to inhibit responding. A well-known race model affords estimation of the duration of the inhibition process. This powerful approach has yielded numerous insights into the neural circuitry underlying response control, the specificity of inhibition across effectors and response strategies, and executive processes such as performance monitoring. Translational research between human and non-human primates has been particularly useful in this venture. Continued progress with the stop-signal paradigm is contingent upon appreciating the dynamics of entire cortical and subcortical neural circuits and obtaining neurophysiological data from each node in the circuit. Progress can also be anticipated on extensions of the race model to account for selective stopping; we expect this will entail embedding behavioral inhibition in the broader context of executive control.

Characterization of Glutamatergic and GABAA-Mediated Neurotransmission in Motor and Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex Using Paired-Pulse TMS–EEG

“…Beta activity is suppressed by GABA receptor-mediated inhibitory paradigms LICI (Farzan et al, 2009) and SAI (Ferreri et al, 2012). Beta band activity and SICI have both been closely linked to stopping and response inhibition (Coxon et al, 2006; for review, see Schall and Godlove, 2012). Together these findings provide a possible basis for the specificity of beta band modulation to the motor domain and its link to inhibitory activity.…”

Neural chronometry and coherency across speed–accuracy demands reveal lack of homomorphism between computational and neural mechanisms of evidence accumulation

“…Movement neurons in both SC and FEF are observed to initially increase but then decline in activity following a stop or change signal [27,49,50]. Crucially, whether or not monkeys can cancel a saccade depends on whether or not a threshold discharge rate was reached [51,52] (for a review, see [53,54]). …”

The influence of recent decisions on future goal selection

“…A well-described effect of proactive control in this task is the elongation of the RT in go trials following trials with stop signal presentation [30], which corresponds to an increased probability of success in case of a further stop trial appearance [28,31]. The observation that a recent trial sequence can influence performance in the countermanding task suggests that factors other than the outcome of the two competitive processes in the race might play a role [27,29,30,[32][33][34][35][36]. Furthermore, what emerges is that the countermanding task is ideal for studying correlates of both reactive and proactive control in the same neural population.…”