ERIC Number: EJ879484
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2010-Apr
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0096-1523
EISSN: N/A
Motivational Influences on Response Inhibition Measures
Leotti, Lauren A.; Wager, Tor D.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, v36 n2 p430-447 Apr 2010
Psychological research has placed great emphasis on inhibitory control due to its integral role in normal cognition and clinical disorders. The stop-signal task and associated measure--stop-signal reaction time (SSRT)--provides a well-established paradigm for measuring response inhibition. However, motivational influences on stop-signal performance and SSRT have not been examined. We conceptualize the stop-signal paradigm as a decision-making task involving the trade-off between fast responding and accurate inhibition. In 4 experiments, we demonstrate that performance trade-offs are influenced by inherent motivational biases and explicit strategic control. As a result, SSRT was lower when participants favored correct stopping over fast responding than when the same participants favored fast responding over correct stopping. We present a novel variant of the stop-signal task that uses monetary incentives to manipulate motivated speed-accuracy trade-offs. By sampling performance at multiple-trade-off settings, we obtain a measure of inhibitory ability that is independent of trade-off bias, and thus, more easily interpretable when comparing across participants. We present a working theoretical model to explain the effects of motivational context on response inhibition. (Contains 4 tables, 6 figures and 1 footnote.)
Descriptors: Reaction Time, Psychological Studies, Models, Incentives, Inhibition, Responses, Measurement Techniques, Decision Making, Motivation, Visual Stimuli, Cognitive Processes, Visual Perception, Experimental Psychology
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A