Aron Adam R, Verbruggen Frederick
Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla, CA 92103-0109, USA.
Psychol Sci. 2008 Nov;19(11):1146-53. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02216.x.
How does one control an inappropriate tendency? Many studies have investigated this question by measuring the speed with which subjects stop an initiated response. Yet the rapid stopping of an initiated response is apparently underpinned by a neurocognitive mechanism that has global effects on multiple tendencies. This limits such studies as models of cognitive control because they do not explain the selectivity of control over particular tendencies that is apparent in everyday life. We hypothesized that subjects employ a selective stopping mechanism when they have foreknowledge of which response to stop, but employ a global stopping mechanism when they do not have such foreknowledge. Comparing foreknowledge and no-foreknowledge conditions, we show that when subjects have foreknowledge, stopping is indeed more selective, as evidenced by less of an effect on the concurrent execution of an alternative response; however, stopping is also slower when subjects have foreknowledge. Thus, selective and global mechanisms of stopping can be dissociated. We suggest that the selective mechanism is used when people maintain the goal of controlling particular responses, whereas the global mechanism is used when it is essential to stop quickly.
如何控制不适当的倾向？许多研究通过测量受试者停止已启动反应的速度来探究这个问题。然而，已启动反应的快速停止显然是由一种对多种倾向具有全局影响的神经认知机制所支撑的。这限制了此类研究作为认知控制模型的作用，因为它们无法解释在日常生活中明显存在的对特定倾向控制的选择性。我们假设，当受试者预先知道要停止哪种反应时，他们会采用选择性停止机制，但当他们没有这种预先知识时，则会采用全局停止机制。通过比较有预先知识和无预先知识的条件，我们发现，当受试者有预先知识时，停止确实更具选择性，这表现为对同时执行的替代反应的影响较小；然而，当受试者有预先知识时，停止也会更慢。因此，停止的选择性和全局机制是可以分离的。我们认为，当人们维持控制特定反应的目标时会使用选择性机制，而当快速停止至关重要时则会使用全局机制。
