Multivariate Assessment of Inhibitory Control in Youth: Links With Psychopathology and Brain Function

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Psychology
• Psychopathology

Background:

• Inhibitory control is fundamental to cognitive development and implicated in developmental psychopathology.
• Impaired inhibitory control is theorized to underlie various youth mental health conditions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate shared versus unique associations between inhibitory control and symptom dimensions in youth psychopathology.
• To examine the relationship between inhibitory control and specific conditions: attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety, and irritability.

Main Methods:

• Quantified inhibitory control using four experimental tasks in 246 youth (ages 8-18).
• Employed structural equation modeling with a bifactor model of psychopathology.
• Utilized resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to assess brain network efficiency.

Main Results:

• Inhibitory control significantly predicted a general psychopathology dimension.
• No significant associations were found between inhibitory control and ADHD-specific, anxiety-specific, or irritability-specific dimensions.
• Inhibitory control demonstrated a selective association with global efficiency in a frontoparietal control network.

Conclusions:

• Performance-based inhibitory control is linked to resting-state brain function.
• Inhibitory control is an important predictor of comorbidity in youth psychopathology.
• Findings support inhibitory control's role in general vulnerability rather than specific disorders.