Neural mechanisms of action-selective and stimulus-selective stopping

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Issue Date
2016-08-17
Language
en
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Abstract
The past decade has seen a surge of interest in selective stopping. Researchers studying selective stopping have relied on the independent race model of simple stopping. Furthermore, they have investigated selective stopping with a heterogeneous set of tasks, including action-selective and stimulus-selective stop tasks. Action-selective stop tasks probe control of specific actions and stimulus-selective stop tasks examine control triggered by specific stimuli. However, it remains unclear whether the independent race model extends to selective stopping and whether selective stopping is a homogeneous or heterogeneous construct. Here, we addressed these important gaps. We tested whether selective stopping performance is in agreement with predictions of the independent race model, using a Bayesian hypothesis testing approach based on the Bayes factor. We performed these tests at the group- and individual-level. We then compared action- and stimulus-selective stopping in terms of performance and brain activation, using functional magnetic resonance imaging. We found violations of the predictions of the independent race model in 91% of the individuals in action-selective stopping and 74% of the individuals in stimulus-selective stopping. These individual violations were almost completely masked by the group performance. Furthermore, performance did not differ between the two selective stopping types and there appeared to be no differences in inhibition-related brain activity. These results suggest that the independent race model does not generally extend to selective stopping and that action-selective and stimulus-selective stopping form a homogeneous construct.
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Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen