The effectiveness of Go/Nogo dual-task is modulated by SOA and Go/Nogo ratio

The Go/Nogo dual-task consists of two sequentially presented tasks, i.e., the Go/Nogo task and the probe task. In this task, the Go/Nogo effect can be reflected by the probe Go/Nogo effect (i.e., RT_Nogo-probe - RT_Go-probe). This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of the Go/Nogo dual-task paradigm by adopting different stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) and Go/Nogo ratios. In Experiment 1, two short SOAs (600 ms and 800 ms) and two long SOAs (1300 ms and 1600 ms) were adopted. The results found that the magnitude of the probe Go/Nogo effect was reduced as increasing SOAs. In Experiment 2, two kinds of Go/Nogo ratios (3:1 and 1:1) and two kinds of SOAs (800 ms and 1200 ms) were adopted. The results revealed that the magnitude of the probe Go/Nogo effect was increased in the ratio 3:1 condition than in the ratio 1:1 condition, and was reduced in short SOA than in long SOA conditions. These results demonstrate that the Go/Nogo dual-task effectively detects response inhibition, especially when SOA is short and Nogo trials are infrequent.