Easy to learn, hard to suppress: The impact of learned stimulus-outcome associations on subsequent action control.

ABSTRACT: The inhibition of impulsive response tendencies that conflict with goal-directed action is a key component of executive control. An emerging literature reveals that the proficiency of inhibitory control is modulated by expected or unexpected opportunities to earn reward or avoid punishment. However, less is known about how inhibitory control is impacted by the processing of task-irrelevant stimulus information that has been associated previously with particular outcomes (reward or punishment) or response tendencies (action or inaction). We hypothesized that stimulus features associated with particular action-valence tendencies, even though task irrelevant, would modulate inhibitory control processes. Participants first learned associations between stimulus features (color), actions, and ou

SUBMITTER: van Wouwe NC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4666004 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature