Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Dev Sci. 2022 Sep;25(5):e13193. doi: 10.1111/desc.13193. Epub 2021 Dec 7.
Inhibitory control (IC) is a core executive function integral to self-regulation and cognitive control, yet is itself multi-componential. Directed global inhibition entails stopping an action on demand. Competitive inhibition is engaged when an alternative response must also be produced. Related, but not an executive function, is temperamentally-driven wariness of novelty, known as behavioural inhibition. Understanding early development of these components has been hampered by a shortage of suitable measures. We combine established and novel measures to capture directed global inhibition (Toy Prohibition, Touchscreen Prohibition), competitive inhibition (A-not-B, Early Childhood Inhibitory Touchscreen Task; ECITT) and behavioural inhibition (Touchscreen Approach) in 113 10- and 16-month-olds (73 seen longitudinally). ECITT performance shows good 1-week test-retest reliability at 10-months (r = 0.30-0.60) but little stability to 16-months. Directed global inhibition performance shows developmental progression but little stability of individual differences from 10 to 16 months. Performance on measures targeting similar IC components shows greater coherence at 16-months (r = 0.23-0.59) compared with 10-months (r = 0.09-0.35). Probing of ECITT condition effects indicates toddlers are more able, compared with infants, to override immediate prepotencies; indicative of increasingly flexible control over behaviour. However, exerting IC over cumulative prepotencies appears just as challenging for toddlers as infants. Exploratory analyses show little evidence for cross-sectional or longitudinal associations between behavioural, directed global and competitive inhibition. In combination, these findings indicate that IC is not yet a stable, unidimensional construct during the transition between infancy and toddlerhood, and highlight the need for careful selection of multiple measures for those interested in capturing early variation in IC.
抑制控制（IC）是自我调节和认知控制的核心执行功能，但它本身是多成分的。定向全局抑制需要根据需要停止行动。当必须产生替代反应时，会涉及竞争性抑制。与之相关但不是执行功能的是，对新奇事物的气质性警惕，称为行为抑制。由于缺乏合适的措施，这些成分的早期发展一直受到阻碍。我们结合了已建立的和新的措施，以捕捉定向全局抑制（玩具禁止，触摸屏禁止），竞争性抑制（A-not-B，幼儿抑制触摸屏任务; ECITT）和行为抑制（触摸屏方法）在 113 个 10 个月和 16 个月大的婴儿中（73 个进行了纵向观察）。ECITT 在 10 个月时的 1 周测试重测可靠性良好（r = 0.30-0.60），但到 16 个月时稳定性较差。定向全局抑制表现出发展进展，但从 10 到 16 个月个体差异的稳定性较小。针对相似 IC 成分的测量表现出更大的一致性在 16 个月（r = 0.23-0.59）与 10 个月（r = 0.09-0.35）相比。对 ECITT 条件效应的探测表明，与婴儿相比，幼儿更能够克服即时的预先倾向性; 表明对行为的控制越来越灵活。然而，对于幼儿来说，施加 IC 以克服累积的预先倾向性与婴儿一样具有挑战性。探索性分析表明，行为、定向全局和竞争性抑制之间没有横断面或纵向关联的证据。综合来看，这些发现表明，在婴儿期和幼儿期之间的过渡期间，IC 还不是一个稳定的、单一维度的结构，并强调了对于那些有兴趣捕捉 IC 早期变化的人来说，需要仔细选择多个测量方法。
