Controlling for non-inhibitory processes in response inhibition research

• Main Author: Maizey, Leah
• Published: Cardiff University 2016
• Subjects: 612.8; BF Psychology
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.694953

Central to human adaptive behaviour is the ability to update one’s motor actions in the face of environmental changes, for which a key component is the ability to inhibit ongoing actions that are no longer appropriate. A substantial body of previous research has implicated the right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG) and the pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA) as plausible sources of inhibitory control, but it remains unclear whether these regions host a specialised inhibitory control mechanism or instead support a more general system of action updating. This uncertainty stems from the limited number of studies that have controlled for non-inhibitory processes in response inhibition research. The overarching aim of this thesis was to resolve this ambiguity by studying behaviour, neurophysiology and neurochemistry during action updating in the presence and absence of inhibition. For the key experiments, detailed methods and hypotheses were pre-registered prior to data collection to minimise research bias and ensure transparent discrimination of confirmatory and exploratory inferences.