Inhibitory control over the present and the past

Abstract

From the perspective of the Hasher, Zacks, and May (1999) inhibitory framework, optimal performance occurs only when there is control over nonrelevant information. Relative to a current, goal-directed task, there are at least two potential sources of nonrelevant information that need to be controlled. The rst is no longer relevant information. Such information would include, for example, a previous topic of conversation, or, in our work, a previous list of materials presented for study and recall. The second source of nonrelevant information is currently present (in thought or in the world) stimuli that are not relevant to the task at hand. Inhibitory processes are critical to the eVective control of both sources of information-the no longer relevant past and the irrelevant present. If inhibitory processes are ineYcient, irrelevant information from both the past and the present will disrupt performance on the current task. We illustrate this with studies showing the role of irrelevant information in reducing the working memory capacity of older adults and in slowing them down as they do even reasonably simple tasks.''Oops! My mind wandered for a second-could you repeat that, please? '' We've all had occasion to say something like this during a conversation, even one that we were interested in and motivated to attend to. Perhaps Requests for reprints should be addressed to L. Hasher,

Rethinking interference theory: Executive control and the mechanisms of forgetting

“…Thus, even when subjects performed as many as 20 retrieval practice trials on the dominant sense, little retrieval-induced forgetting was observed. Taken together these results argue against associative blocking accounts of retrieval-induced forgetting, but are consistent with idea that this phenomenon depends on the need to override prepotent memories, as would be expected if inhibitory processes are recruited to suppress those memories (see Conway & Engle, 1994 for a related discussion of the role of inhibitory processes in resolving interference in memory span tasks; see also, Lustig, Hasher, & Toney, 2001, for a recent review of work on inhibitory processes in cognitive aging).…”

Assessing worry in older and younger adults: Psychometric properties of an abbreviated Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ-A)

“…For example, the PSWQ-A may reduce respondent confusion as it pertains to answering (reversed) items on self-report measures of worry. The absence of reversed items on this scale may assist in more reliably assessing cognitively impaired or otherwise disabled individuals, as well as older adults who may be more susceptible to internal or external distraction and less capable of manipulating (reversed) information (Hasher & Zacks, 1988;Lustig, Hasher, & Tonev, 2001). The PSWQ-A also may be particularly useful in primary care settings.…”

The Elusive Nature of Executive Functions: A Review of our Current Understanding

“…Hasher and Zacks (1988) proposed the inhibitory deficit theory of cognitive aging, which tries to explain a wide range of age-related difficulties in cognitive functioning by a deficit in the inhibitory control system. This framework aims to explain the difficulties experienced by older individuals find at restraining taskirrelevant information as well as prepotent responses, and getting rid of irrelevant information from working memory (Hasher and Zacks 1988;Hasher et al 2001;Lustig et al 2001).…”