The control of deliberate waiting strategies in a stop-signal task

Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research

R.p. Sylwan¹ 

[1] ,Universidade de São Paulo Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto Departamento de Psicologia e EducaçãoRibeirão Preto SP ,Brasil

关键词: Attention;    Stop-task;    Reaction time;    Vision;    Executive functions;    Laterality;   

DOI  :  10.1590/S0100-879X2004000600011

来源: SciELO

【 摘 要 】

To inhibit an ongoing flow of thoughts or actions has been largely considered to be a crucial executive function, and the stop-signal paradigm makes inhibitory control measurable. Stop-signal tasks usually combine two concurrent tasks, i.e., manual responses to a primary task (go-task) are occasionally countermanded by a stimulus which signals participants to inhibit their response in that trial (stop-task). Participants are always instructed not to wait for the stop-signal, since waiting strategies cause the response times to be unstable, invalidating the data. The aim of the present study was to experimentally control the strategies of waiting deliberately for the stop-signal in a stop-task by means of an algorithm that measured the variation in the reaction times to go-stimuli on-line, and displayed a warning legend urging participants to be faster when their reaction times were more than two standard deviations of the mean. Thirty-four university students performed a stop-task with go- and stop-stimuli, both of which were delivered in the visual modality and were lateralized within the visual field. The participants were divided into two groups (group A, without the algorithm, vs group B, with the algorithm). Group B exhibited lower variability of reaction times to go-stimuli, whereas no significant between-group differences were found in any of the measures of inhibitory control, showing that the algorithm succeeded in controlling the deliberate waiting strategies. Differences between deliberate and unintentional waiting strategies, and anxiety as a probable factor responsible for individual differences in deliberate waiting behavior, are discussed.

【 授权许可】

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