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Updated: May 11, 2026
09:48
Intracortical Inhibition Within the Primary Motor Cortex Can Be Modulated by Changing the Focus of Attention
Published on: September 11, 2017
Inhibitory control contributes to "motor"--but not "cognitive"--impulsivity
Amy Jane Caswell1, Michael John Morgan, Theodora Duka
1Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience, School of Psychology, University of Sussex, <location>Brighton, UK</location>
Experimental Psychology
|May 1, 2013
Summary
Taxing inhibitory control increased motor impulsivity but not reflection or temporal impulsivity. This suggests distinct mechanisms underlie different impulsivity subtypes, challenging the idea that inhibitory control is always necessary for decision-making.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Impulsivity is often attributed to deficits in inhibitory control.
- Understanding the relationship between inhibitory control and different impulsivity subtypes is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if taxing inhibitory control influences reflection, temporal, and motor impulsivity.
- To determine if inhibitory control mechanisms are dissociable across impulsivity subtypes.
Main Methods:
- Participants (n=33) were assigned to an inhibitory control challenge or control condition.
- A random letter generation task concurrently taxed inhibitory control during impulsivity assessments.
- Impulsivity was measured using the Information Sampling Task (IST), Single Key Impulsivity Paradigm, and Stop Signal Task (SST).
Main Results:
- The inhibitory control challenge significantly increased motor impulsivity, as indicated by longer stop signal reaction times (SSRTs) on the SST.
- No significant effects were observed on reflection or temporal impulsivity measures.
- These findings suggest motor impulsivity is dissociable from other subtypes.
Conclusions:
- The mechanisms underlying motor impulsivity are distinct from those of temporal and reflection impulsivity.
- Inhibitory control engagement is not universally required to prevent all forms of impulsive decision making.
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