Long-term aftereffects of response inhibition: Memory retrieval, task goals, and cognitive control.

Abstract

Cognitive control theories attribute control to executive processes that adjust and control behavior online. Theories of automaticity attribute control to memory retrieval. In the present study, online adjustments and memory retrieval were examined, and their roles in controlling performance in the stop-signal paradigm were elucidated. There was evidence of short-term response time adjustments after unsuccessful stopping. In addition, it was found that memory retrieval can slow responses for 1-20 trials after successful inhibition, which suggests the automatic retrieval of task goals. On the basis of these findings, the authors concluded that cognitive control can rely on both memory retrieval and executive processes.

Control in Response Inhibition

“…These criteria are further adjusted after each trial. Response latencies are often slower after stop-signal trials than after no-stop-signal trials (Bissett & Logan, 2011, 2012Emeric et al, 2007;Nelson, Boucher, Logan, Palmeri, & Schall, 2010;Rieger & Gauggel, 1999;Verbruggen & Logan, 2008b;Verbruggen, Logan, Liefooghe, & Vandierendonck, 2008). Bissett and Logan (2011) contrasted several accounts of post-stopsignal slowing, and found most support for a strategic adjustment account that proposes that stop-signal presentation encourages subjects to shift priority from the go task to the stop task.…”

“…We have attributed this stimulus-specific slowing to the retrieval of stimulus-stop associations: a go stimulus becomes associated with a 'stop' representation on a stop trial; when it is repeated on the next go trial, the stop representation is activated via associative retrieval, and this will suppress the go response (Verbruggen & Logan, 2008b;. Activation of these stop representations has global effects on responding (Giesen & Rothermund, 2014), which suggests that they are general ('stop responding') rather than response-specific (e.g., 'stop the left response').…”

On the ability to inhibit thought and action: General and special theories of an act of control.

“…Estimates of SSRT have served as measures of cognitive control in studies of cognition, life-span development, individual differences, psychopathology, and neuropathology (for reviews, see Logan, 1994;Verbruggen & Logan, 2008b). This is an important contribution because SSRT is not directly observable.…”

Association, Inhibition, and Action

“…This stimulus-stop association account is related to the 'do-not-respond tag' account of the negative priming effect, mentioned earlier ; of course this is no coincidence because both accounts are based on the Instance Theory of Logan (1988). The stimulus-stop effects are observed up to 20 trials after the presentation of the stop signal (Verbruggen and Logan, 2008a). Similar long-term effects have been observed in task-switching studies, suggesting that stimuli can become associated with tasks or task goals (Waszak, Hommel, & Allport, 2003, 2004.…”

“…This response slowing has been attributed to strategic control adjustments: subjects must try to find a balance between responding quickly on no-signal trials (speed) and stopping on stop-signal trials (caution); this balance would be adjusted in favour of caution after a stop-signal trial (Bissett & Logan, 2011). However, the slowing is more pronounced when the stimulus or stimulus category of the previous trial is repeated (Bissett & Logan, 2011;Enticott, Bradshaw, Bellgrove, Upton, & Ogloff, 2009;Oldenburg, Roger, Assecondi, Verbruggen, & Fias, 2012;Rieger & Gauggel, 1999;Verbruggen & Logan, 2008a;Verbruggen, Logan, Liefooghe, & Vandierendonck, 2008). This analysis suggests some contribution of memory retrieval.…”