The Development of Selective Inhibitory Control Across the Life Span
Abstract
A modification of the stop-signal task was used to investigate the development of selective inhibitory control. A group of 317 participants, age 6 to 82 years, performed a visual choice reaction time (go) task and attempted to selectively inhibit their response to the go task when hearing one of two randomly presented tones (1000 Hz, 250 Hz), each presented on 20% of trials. Measures of response execution and inhibition were assessed by using reaction times to the go signal (GoRT) and stop signal (SSRT), respectively. Results indicated that SSRT gets faster with increasing age throughout childhood, with pronounced slowing in older adulthood. In addition, strong evidence was obtained for age-related speeding in GoRT throughout childhood, with marked slowing throughout adulthood. Subsequent hierarchical regression analyses illustrated that the age-related changes in selective inhibitory control could not be explained simply by overall slowing or speeding of responses. Findings are discussed in regard to the decay and maturation of selective inhibitory control across the life span.
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Adolescents can show mature inhibitory control but do so less consistently than adults.
“Behavioral evidence clearly indicates that adolescents can demonstrate mature levels of inhibitory control, but do so inconsistently compared to adults”
From Developmental changes in brain function underlying the influence of reward processing on inhibitory control (2011) · cites this paper as Bedard et al., 2002
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“…response speeds during those trials in which an auditory tone (both selected and nonselected) was absent, which followed standard practice (e.g., Logan & Burkell, 1986; Logan & Cowan, 1984; Logan et al., 1997; Osman et al., 1990; Schachar, Mota, Logan, Tannock, & Klim, 2000; Williams et al.,…”
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- Authors
- Bedard, A.-C., Nichols, S., Barbosa, J. A., Schachar, R., Logan, G. D., & Tannock, R.
- Affiliations
- Hospital for Sick Children (CA)
- Dalhousie University (CA)
- Vanderbilt University (US)
- Venue
- Developmental Neuropsychology
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2002-02
- Volume
- 21
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 93-111
- ISSN
- 1532-6942 (ISSN-L)
- 8756-5641
- OpenAlex
- W2016549113
- Cited by
- 378
- References
- 8
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 24 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 21 · 2015: 16 · 2014: 29 · 2013: 17 · 2012: 23
- FWCI
- 5.53
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Developmental Neuropsychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (1r01hd031714-01a2)
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD31714)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Developmental and Educational Neuropsychology
- Keywords
- stop-signal task, stop-signal reaction time, age-related changes, lifespan development, childhood, aging, response inhibition, cognitive maturation
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Age Factors, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Analysis of Variance, Child, Choice Behavior, Female, Humans, Inhibition, Psychological, Male, Middle Aged, Photic Stimulation, Psychomotor Performance, Surveys and Questionnaires, Reaction Time, Regression Analysis
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