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The Impact of Emotions on Habitual Inhibition
David Mata-Marín1,2, Peter Redgrave3, Ignacio Obeso1,4
1Hospital Universitario HM Puerta del Sur, Spain.
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
|September 7, 2023
Summary
Emotions significantly impact habitual inhibition, a key executive control. Emotional cues, both positive and negative, altered habitual inhibition strength, revealing a vulnerability in cognitive control mechanisms.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Psychology
- Behavioral Science
Background:
- Executive control functions, like habitual inhibition, regulate behavior.
- Habitual inhibition involves stimulus-stop associations for interrupting ongoing actions.
- The influence of emotions on habitual inhibition remains underexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the emotional modulation of habitual inhibition.
- To examine associated psycho-physiological changes during emotional modulation.
- To provide behavioral evidence on the interplay between emotion and cognitive control.
Main Methods:
- A 10-day go/no-go association task trained participants in stimulus-stop associations.
- Probabilistic feedback was used to establish varying strengths of habitual inhibition.
- A reversal test assessed habitual inhibition under emotional cue (positive, negative, neutral) conditions.
Main Results:
- The training protocol successfully induced stable habitual behavior and psycho-physiological responses.
- Habitual inhibition was confirmed by speed costs on reversed no-go trials for strongly associated stimuli.
- Both positive and negative emotional cues significantly modulated habitual inhibition strength.
Conclusions:
- Cognitive control mechanisms, specifically habitual inhibition, are susceptible to emotional stimuli.
- Emotions can either enhance or counteract behavioral effects mediated by habitual inhibition.
- This study offers novel insights into emotion-cognition interactions and their impact on behavioral regulation.
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