title: The inhibitory control reflex.
abstract: Response inhibition is typically considered a hallmark of deliberate executive control. In this article, we review work showing that response inhibition can also become a 'prepared reflex', readily triggered by information in the environment, or after sufficient training, or a 'learned reflex' triggered by the retrieval of previously acquired associations between stimuli and stopping. We present new results indicating that people can learn various associations, which influence performance in different ways. To account for previous findings and our new results, we present a novel architecture that integrates theories of associative learning, Pavlovian conditioning, and executive response inhibition. Finally, we discuss why this work is also relevant for the study of 'intentional inhibition'.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QG, UK. Electronic address: f.l.j.verbruggen@exeter.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Frederick
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Verbruggen
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QG, UK.
authors.forename: Maisy
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Best
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QG, UK.
authors.forename: William A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Bowditch
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QG, UK.
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Stevens
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QG, UK.
authors.forename: Ian P L
authors.initials: IP
authors.lastname: McLaren
mesh_terms: D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D012018:Reflex / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Executive control; Learning; Priming; Response inhibition