Inhibition

Mindfulness is known to positively impact behavioral and electrophysiological outcomes of inhibitory executive control following long-term practice. For example, increased accuracy and decreased reaction time, as well as neural markers of increased inhibitory processing. More evidence is emerging demonstrating increased inhibitory control following shorter-term interventions ranging from 3 days to less than 8 weeks. However, findings following single, brief (>1 hour) remain mixed. The current study measured behavioral and EEG changes on a Stroop task in 40 college students following either a 30-minute guided mindfulness meditation or audiobook listening. A breath-counting task (objective measure of mindfulness) was administered to capture the effectiveness of the intervention. Results showed the mindfulness group had trending increased accuracy on the breath-counting task post-intervention compared to controls. Equivalent performance was seen across all Stroop trial conditions regardless of group. Regarding the EEG findings, a between-group effect emerged for congruent N2 voltage at P4 and incongruent N2 voltages at FC1 indicating the mindfulness group had reduced negative voltages across both time points. There was a within-subjects x group interaction for incongruent P3b voltage at Pz; MG increased while controls decreased (opposite of what was expected). This study provides partial evidence for a single, 30-min mindfulness induction in producing a more mindful awareness compared to an audiobook control group. Findings regarding enhanced inhibitory processing following the mindfulness intervention are mixed. Contrary to expectations, our findings implicate the effectiveness of a 30-min mindfulness induction in increased resource recruitment for evaluating incongruent words in absence of behavioral effects.

Deciding what information we attend to has implications on our ability to remain
valuable and productive in our respective academic and economic domains. This study
investigated if attentional switching due to information technology interruptions would
deplete resources in a unique way and impair performance on a response inhibition task.
Three groups were compared on the Simon task after participants either did or did not
receive interruptions during a self-regulation task. Unexpectedly, a larger Simon effect
was found for participants who did not receive interruptions.
These results conform to previous evidence showing sustained directed attention
may result in depletion and effect subsequent inhibitory control. Although not supporting
predictions, these results may provide a basis for further research, particularly because
younger generations are developing in a more connected world than preceding
generations. By understanding these differences, younger generations may better adapt to
technological advances and leverage them to their advantage.

In view of evidence that female human subjects tend
to be more severely inhibited in subsequent performance by
frustration than are males, the author maintained that
when 11 learned helplessness" was elicited in humans, the
magnitude of the interference effect would be greater for
female subjects than for males. Subject sex and sex of
experimenter in two treatment conditions were manipulated
to give a 2 x 2 x 2 factorial design. Half the subjects
received ten insoluble anagrams initially and half received
ten solubles. An analysis of error rates on a subsequent
set of 30 solubles revealed a brief interference effect
which dissipated after five soluble anagrams. A slight
tendency of females to show the hypothesized greater
susceptibility to the manipulation was not statistically
significant. Parameters of the initial inescapable failure
trials as well as factors which might have interacted with
subject sex were discussed.

This thesis examined the developmental differences in inhibition and theory-of-mind of 4-8 year olds as a function of the suggested presence of a supernatural agent. All children played four games designed to assess their current level of inhibition and theory-of-mind performance; Children in the experimental condition, only, were also introduced to an invisible Princess Alice and were told that she was watching during the games. Following these measures, all children engaged in a resistance-to-temptation task to determine any differences in inhibition resulting from Princess Alice's suggested presence. I found that children exhibiting a well-developed theory-of-mind were more likely to express belief in Princess Alice than were children lacking this cognitive ability. This research provided support that cognitive maturity, rather than immaturity, may be necessary for children to express belief in novel supernatural agents, and highlighted the importance of context as a mediating factor in children's behavioral inhibition.