Training And Transfer Effects Of The Stop Signal Task On Inhibition In Adolescence And Adulthood

Inhibitory control has been suggested to be a core component of executive function,which was crucial for individuals' development.But results of studies assessing the trainability of inhibition were heterogeneous,and there were great differences among different ages.Researches exploring the mechanism of inhibition training seemed necessary.Training effects of Stop Signal Task,a most important paradigm of inhibition,were also arguable,thus further research was needed.The current study adopted two sub-studies to explore effectiveness of computerized Stop Signal Task training.In the first study,144 adults were assigned to a 3(intervention: training with feedback,training without feedback,no training)×3(time: pre-test,post-test,follow-up)experiment.The Stop Signal Task with/without feedback was used as the only training task.Improvements of the untrained tasks such as Go/No-go,Stroop,N-back and Advanced Raven Intelligence Test were selected to measure transfer effects.Results indicated performance on the training tasks were significantly improved and exclusively transferred to Go/No-go Tasks for the trained group with feedback compared to the other two groups,but transfer effects were absent in other tasks.In order to make a further exploration,60 middle school students were assigned to a 2(intervention: training with feedback,training without feedback)×2(time: pre-test,post-test)×2(age: adult,middle school)experiment in the second study and results were compared with the first one.Results showed significant differences were observed between two ages,and the middle school group showed significant improvement and wide transfer after training with feedback.Results suggested that:(1)Improvement and transfer on computerized Stop Signal Task training were limited for adults and significant for middle school students.(2)Cognitive plasticity plays an important role in the improvement of Stop Signal Task training.