Common and Unique Neurophysiological Processes That Support the Stopping and Revising of Actions

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Psychology
• Human Motor Control

Background:

• Inhibitory control is vital for behavioral flexibility and is studied via action-stopping tasks.
• Neurophysiological signatures of inhibitory control are debated, necessitating further investigation into underlying processes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To differentiate neurophysiological processes in simple action-stopping versus action-revision scenarios.
• To test hypotheses from two-stage "pause-then-cancel" models of inhibitory control.

Main Methods:

• Three experiments involving human participants (female and male).
• Utilized electroencephalography (EEG) and electromyography (EMG) to measure neurophysiological dynamics.
• Compared neural activity during simple stopping and complex action revision tasks.

Main Results:

• An early, broad "pause" process (frontal EEG β-bursting, suppressed corticospinal excitability) occurred during both stopping and revising actions.
• Motor activity was partially inhibited and modulated during revision.
• A later, selective "retune" phase (frontocentral EEG) scaled with the complexity of action revisions.

Conclusions:

• Inhibitory control operates over time in at least two distinct phases: "pause" and "retune".
• Neurophysiological signatures align with these phases and are modulated by revision complexity.
• Findings support two-stage models of inhibitory control and clarify its neural implementation.