Developmental changes in inhibitory processing: evidence from psychophysiological measures.
Two major theories of the development of inhibitory functioning are discussed that assume a close relation between inhibitory ability and the maturation of the frontal lobes. It is argued that a psychophysiological approach may add considerably to the study of developmental change in inhibitory processes. A selective review is presented of studies examining heart rate and brain potential measures obtained in a variety of paradigms supposedly showing inhibitory control. The results of these studies are discussed within the framework proposed by Stuss et al. [Stuss, D.T., Shallice, T., Alexander, M.P., Picton, T.W., 1995. A multidisciplinary approach to anterior attentional processing. In: Grafman, J., Holyoak, K.J., Boller, F. (Eds.), Structure and functions of the human prefrontal cortex. Ann. New York Acad. Sci. 769, 191-211], relating component processes of supervisory-system control to distinct brain regions and psychophysiological measures of attention. It is concluded that the supervisory-system framework provides a heuristic way for examining developmental changes in inhibitory processing.
van der Molen
M W
MW
Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Roetersstraat 15, 1018 WB Amsterdam, The Netherlands. op_molen@macmail.psy.uva.nl
D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D009433:Neural Inhibition / Q000502:physiology*; D011603:Psychophysiology