Inhibitory Control Throughout a Lifetime

 

Inhibitory Control (IC) is the ability to suppress an action or behavior. In social settings, IC is incredibly necessary for withholding inappropriate behavior and suppressing impulses. During early ages, IC is also important in school settings as similar levels of restraint are required to foster an effective learning environment. Past research has found IC development to take place throughout early development alongside prefrontal cortex (PFC) maturation, both of which may contribute to enhanced abilities to learning during this period.

              In the article Relations between frontal EEG maturation and inhibitory control in preschool in the prediction of children’s early academic skills, Dr. Ann Bell and colleagues hypothesized that IC contributes to increased academic achievement and learning among preschoolers, specifically in relation to math and reading skills. To test their hypothesis, the researchers measured psychological changes using resting state EEG alpha power which has been previously linked to inhibition and suppression among infants and young children. Dr. Ann Bell and colleagues observed that resting state EEG alpha power had increased between the ages of 10 months and 3 years before dropping drastically. Changes in resting state EEG alpha power were also associated with changes in PFC development, as well as IC. Likewise, growth in IC was presented alongside an improvement in both math and reading abilities, indicating that PFC and IC development are critical factors in early education and learning.

              Dr. Ann Bell’s article led me to wonder how IC continues into adulthood and whether physiological indicators change after earlier development. The article Second Control in Aging: The Compensation-Related Utilization of Neural Circuits Hypothesis, by Kang and colleagues, discusses the hypothesis that older adults require more spatial brain activation to compensate for neural changes inhibiting IC. Past research found associations between IC decline and changes in WM tracts in the right inferior frontal cortex (rIFC), pre-SMA, and STN. The Compensation-Related Utilization of Neural Circuits Hypothesis (CRUNCH) proposed by Kang and colleagues expresses a relationship between age-related IC decline and a necessity for broadened brain activity across regions beyond those directly associated with IC. To support their hypothesis, scientists found that older individuals exhibit increased activation in the right hemisphere regions and superior parietal gyrus, while simultaneous activation in the rIFC, preSMA, and STN regions decreased. These findings support CRUNCH—as regions associated with IC wear with age, there is often a necessity to harness other areas to compensate for this decline. In identifying CRUNCH as a valid hypothesis, Kang and colleagues discussed future research involving IC-related neurological disease diagnostics through detecting over activity in co-active regions of the brain.

              Both articles present a greater understanding of IC throughout an individual’s lifetime. We understand the importance of IC in societal control, yet there is a lot of knowledge regarding physiological and developmental effects of IC that is still unknown. By expanding our understanding of IC in early development, we can focus on how to potentially stimulate IC growth among young children; likewise, we can work on finding ways to prolong IC among older adults as well as use physiological markers of IC to diagnose neurological diseases. Expanding the basic understanding of IC across multiple points of an individual’s lifetime presents new areas of research to focus on that can be more applicable towards improving individuals’ development and prolonging their health.

 

References:

Whedon, M., Perry, N. B., & Bell, M. A. (2020). Relations between frontal EEG maturation and inhibitory control in preschool in the prediction of children’s early academic skills. Brain and Cognition, 146, 105636. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2020.105636

Kang, W., Wang, J., & Malvaso, A. (2022). Inhibitory Control in Aging: The Compensation-Related Utilization of Neural Circuits Hypothesis. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2021.771885