Stop-signal reaction time correlates with a compensatory balance response

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Human Movement Science
• Cognitive Psychology

Background:

• Response inhibition is crucial for behavioral flexibility and may aid fall prevention.
• Existing research on response inhibition from cognitive psychology may not fully translate to complex balance recovery scenarios.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if the capacity to inhibit a prepotent response is maintained during reactive balance tasks.
• To compare response inhibition performance on a standard task versus a reactive balance test requiring step suppression.

Main Methods:

• Participants completed a stop signal task (measuring Stop Signal Reaction Time - SSRT) and a reactive balance test.
• In the balance test, participants sometimes had to suppress a compensatory step when an obstacle appeared.

Main Results:

• Stop Signal Reaction Time (SSRT) correlated with leg muscle activity during balance recovery.
• Faster SSRT was associated with reduced leg muscle activation when stepping was blocked, indicating better inhibition.

Conclusions:

• Response inhibition ability is transferable across different behavioral contexts, including reactive balance.
• A shared neural mechanism likely underlies the ability to stop actions in both cognitive and motor tasks.