Cognitive inhibition

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Cognitive inhibition refers to the mind's ability to tune out stimuli that are irrelevant to the task/process at hand or to the mind's current state. Additionally, it can be done either in whole or in part, intentionally or otherwise.[1] Cognitive inhibition in particular can be observed in many instances throughout specific areas of cognitive science.

History

The early models of what would become the study and concept of cognitive inhibition were developed by

repression of experiences from infancy and childhood.[2] Freud believed cognitive inhibition was not just a lack of awareness to stimuli but an active process, requiring a constant energy expenditure.[2]

Other early theories of cognitive inhibition focused on its central developmental mechanisms and were founded by Luria and Vygotsky, two Russian psychologists. They proposed that children acquire control of behavior and thought through internalized speech, and that they consciously exhibit a cognitively inhibitory process in order to regulate their own behavior. Cognitive inhibition was thought to develop as mental control over behavior developed.[3]

During the past 30 years inhibitory mechanisms such as cognitive inhibition have not been particularly prominent in developmental psychology, but currently they are undergoing a revival in the study of inefficient inhibition (explored in a later section) and resource limitations.[2]

Developmental psychology

Cognitive inhibition can be seen at work during studies in

cognitive ability on more relevant details is not present in young children and is a highly developmentally-related process.[4]

Role in survival

Cognitive inhibition may have played a role in the survival of human children, in what is called betrayal trauma theory.[6] "In situations involving treacherous acts by a caregiver, a 'cognitive information blockage' may occur that results in an isolation of knowledge of the event from awareness".[7] This motivated forgetting caused by cognitive inhibition would have been necessary in the past to maintain the crucial relationship between child and caregiver so that the child would survive; therefore, cognitive inhibition has endured through evolution. For example, a parent or caregiver may have been abusive physically or emotionally to a child, perhaps not intentionally, but the effect would be the same to the child. However, the world outside the protection of the caregiver would be even less forgiving and almost certainly fatal to the child in ancient history. Being ontogenetically better able to cognitively inhibit the memory of the abuse to maintain the relationship became evolutionarily advantageous.[citation needed]

Behavioral psychology

Behavioral psychology
may play an important part in the development of cognitive inhibition. Cognitive inhibition is believed to strongly influence both sexual and aggressive urges within human society. When signals or stimuli are perceived by an individual, the mind processes the information and the body elicits a response. However, in the case of sexual arousal or perceived aggressive behavior, the individual needs to exercise caution in the cognitive processing of the incoming signals. This is where cognitive inhibition plays its part, preventing the individual from cognitively processing the stimuli and selecting an inappropriate response, thus potentially saving crucial social relationships.
social relationships.[citation needed
]

Behavioral control is an important application of cognitive inhibition in

behavioral psychology, as is emotional control. Depression is an example of cognitive inhibition failure in emotion control. Correctly functioning cognitive inhibition would result in reduced selective attention to negative stimuli and retention of negative thoughts. "There is emerging evidence that depression is characterized by deficits in the inhibition of mood-congruent material. These deficits could result in prolonged processing of negative, goal-irrelevant aspects of presented information thereby hindering recovery from negative mood and leading to the sustained negative affect that characterizes depressive episodes".[9] Anger is another important emotion affected by cognitive inhibition. "Trait anger is a robust predictor of the angry and aggressive response to hostile situational input, but it is important to better understand the mechanisms underlying this personality...individuals low in trait anger systematically recruit cognitive control resources within hostile contexts".[10] When situations that may elicit anger leading to violence arise, cognitive inhibition is used extensively. Hostile stimuli magnitude are considered and ignored to avoid confrontation. Social context situations that may be interpreted as hostile are processed, and through cognitive inhibition, logic and reasoning are used to handle the situation. When a degree of cognitive inhibition ability is absent in an individual, it can result in "trait anger", or frequent angry and violent outbursts at relatively inoffensive stimuli.[10] Without cognitive inhibition and its resulting omission of irrelevant or unimportant information, emotional stability can be compromised.[11]

Behavioral neuroscience

neural background behind it and explains what exactly is going on at the cellular level.[citation needed
]

Theory of inefficient inhibition

Many contemporary cognitive theorists postulate models featuring a central pool "of mental resources that must be allocated to the various operations involved in processing, retaining, and reporting information".[2] This means that working memory and the various areas of the brain responsible for it are theoretically limited to a finite set of "mental resources" or mental capacity with which to carry out operation. Cognitive inhibition, of course, is responsible for determining what is relevant to the working memory and shuts out what is irrelevant, "freeing up space" and mental capacity needed for more pressing matters.
In the theory of inefficient inhibition, cognitive inhibition does not perform its function fully, and a shortage of mental resources leads to decreased performance or inefficiency in tasks that require more mental capacity. While inefficient inhibition can result naturally in individuals diagnosed with

GABA, discussed in an earlier section.[citation needed
]

Failure and deficits

If an individual experiences impaired or damaged cognitive inhibition abilities, the psychological results can be extremely debilitating. Patients with

OCD indicate.[citation needed
]

References

  1. ^ a b c MacLeod, Colin (2007). "Concept of Inhibition in Cognition" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 30, 2010. Retrieved March 3, 2013. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
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  6. ^ Freyd, Jennifer (2008). "What is a Betrayal Trauma? What is Betrayal Trauma Theory?". Encyclopedia of Psychological Trauma: 76. Retrieved March 3, 2013.
  7. ^ Todd, Peter; Ralph Hertwig; Ulrich Hoffrage (2004). "Evolutionary Cognitive Psychology" (PDF). Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology. Retrieved March 3, 2013.
  8. ^ a b Dempster, F; A. Corkill (1999). "Neo-interference research and the development of intelligence". In M. Anderson (ed.). The Development of Intelligence. Psychology Press/Taylor & Francis. pp. 215–243.
  9. doi:10.1016/j.appsy.2007.09.002. Archived from the original
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  13. PMID 9002390. Archived from the original
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  17. ^ Zacks, R.T.; L. Hasher (1994). "Directed ignoring: Inhibitory regulation of working memory" (PDF). Inhibitory Processes in Attention, Memory, and Language: 241–264. Retrieved March 3, 2013.[dead link]
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