Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, 26 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AP, United Kingdom.
Departments of Neurology, Pediatrics, Radiology and Biomedical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, 660 South Euclid Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63110, United States of America.
Cognition. 2023 Oct;239:105548. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105548. Epub 2023 Jul 11.
There is ongoing debate on the relationship between intra-individual variability (IIV) of cognitive processes and task performance. While psychological research has traditionally assumed that lower intra-individual variability (IIV) aids consistent task performance, some studies suggest that greater IIV can also be adaptive, especially when flexible responding is required. Here we selectively manipulate inhibitory control (Stopping) and response speed (Going) by means of a training paradigm to 1) assess how this manipulation impacts Stopping IIV and its relationship to task performance, and 2) replicate previous findings showing that reductions in Going IIV are adaptive. A group of 208 6-13-year-old children were randomly allocated to an 8-week training targeting Stopping (experimental group) or Going (control group). The stop signal task was administered before and after training. Training Stopping led to adaptive increases in Stopping IIV, where greater flexibility in cognitive processing may be required to meet higher task demands. In line with previous studies, training Going led to adaptive reductions in Going IIV, which allows more consistent and efficient Going performance. These findings provide systematic and causal evidence of the process-dependent relationship of IIV and task performance in the context of Stopping and Going, suggesting a more nuanced perspective on IIV with implications for developmental, ageing and intervention studies.
关于认知过程的个体内变异性（IIV）与任务表现之间的关系，一直存在争议。虽然心理学研究传统上假定较低的个体内变异性（IIV）有助于一致的任务表现，但一些研究表明，更大的 IIV 也可能具有适应性，特别是在需要灵活反应时。在这里，我们通过训练范式选择性地操纵抑制控制（停止）和反应速度（进行），以 1）评估这种操纵如何影响停止 IIV 及其与任务表现的关系，以及 2）复制先前的发现，表明进行 IIV 的减少是适应性的。一组 208 名 6-13 岁的儿童被随机分配到针对停止（实验组）或进行（对照组）的 8 周训练中。在训练前后进行停止信号任务。训练停止导致停止 IIV 的适应性增加，这可能需要更灵活的认知处理以满足更高的任务要求。与先前的研究一致，进行训练导致进行 IIV 的适应性减少，这允许更一致和有效的进行表现。这些发现为 Stopping 和 Going 背景下 IIV 和任务表现的过程依赖性关系提供了系统和因果证据，表明了对 IIV 的更细致的观点，对发展、衰老和干预研究具有启示意义。
