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Electromyographic analysis of covert responses during global and selective stop-signal tasks : implications for theoretical models of stopping behaviour

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posted on 2023-05-27, 09:27 authored by Read, AZ
The current study investigated inhibitory control mechanisms and models of action cancellation. Twenty-five participants (9 male) aged between 19-40 years (M=23.96, SD=4.50) responded to a visual 'go' cue by depressing stiff or compliant buttons with their index fingers (bimanual Go task). On 30% trials, a stop-signal required countermanding of the left, right or both responses (i.e., selective or global stopping). Electromyographic (EMG) analysis determined the nature of responses in each hand, and enabled covert muscle activity (partial response) to be observed in successful stop trials. Significantly, more partial responses were observed with the stiff compared to the compliant button, and also led to degraded inhibitory control as indicated by longer stop-signal reaction times. Moreover, the presence of these partial responses challenges the assumptions of the traditional horse race model of inhibitory control, indicating that the go and stopping processes interact with one another prior to, and following, the initiation of the go response. The method employed to assess partial responses detected many more partial responses than the previous literature, indicating the utility of the technique for future research, which could aim to develop our understanding of inhibitory control across the lifespan from both a behavioural and computational modelling perspective.

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