TY - JOUR
T1 - Moderate variability in stimulus presentation improves motor response control
AU - Wodka, Ericka L.
AU - Simmonds, Daniel J.
AU - Mahone, E. Mark
AU - Mostofsky, Stewart H.
N1 - Funding Information:
The research was supported by the following grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH): K02 NS044850 and R01 NS047781; P30 HD24061 (Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Center). We would like to thank Howard Egeth for his helpful guidance in literature review.
PY - 2009/5
Y1 - 2009/5
N2 - To examine the impact of interstimulus jitter (i.e., randomization of the interval between successive stimulus events) on response control during continuous task performance, 41 healthy adults completed four go/no-go tasks that were identical except for interstimulus interval (ISI) jitter: a 0% jitter task with a fixed (1,000-ms) ISI, a 10% jitter task with an ISI range of 900-1,100 ms, a 30% jitter task with an ISI range of 700-1,300 ms, and a 50% jitter task with an ISI range of 500-1,500 ms. Repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed a quadratic effect of jitter on commissions across the group and on intrasubject reaction time variability in men; in both cases, performance was best for the 10% jitter condition. A linear effect of jitter was observed for reaction time (RT) with high levels of jitter (50%) resulting in longer RT. Findings suggest that response selection, including inhibition, is optimized by moderate increases in ISI jitter. More deliberate and controlled responding observed with increasing jitter may have important treatment implications for disorders (e.g., attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, ADHD), associated with impaired response control.
AB - To examine the impact of interstimulus jitter (i.e., randomization of the interval between successive stimulus events) on response control during continuous task performance, 41 healthy adults completed four go/no-go tasks that were identical except for interstimulus interval (ISI) jitter: a 0% jitter task with a fixed (1,000-ms) ISI, a 10% jitter task with an ISI range of 900-1,100 ms, a 30% jitter task with an ISI range of 700-1,300 ms, and a 50% jitter task with an ISI range of 500-1,500 ms. Repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed a quadratic effect of jitter on commissions across the group and on intrasubject reaction time variability in men; in both cases, performance was best for the 10% jitter condition. A linear effect of jitter was observed for reaction time (RT) with high levels of jitter (50%) resulting in longer RT. Findings suggest that response selection, including inhibition, is optimized by moderate increases in ISI jitter. More deliberate and controlled responding observed with increasing jitter may have important treatment implications for disorders (e.g., attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, ADHD), associated with impaired response control.
KW - Attention
KW - Go/no-go
KW - Inhibitory control
KW - Intrasubject variability
KW - Response preparation
KW - Supplementary motor area
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U2 - 10.1080/13803390802272036
DO - 10.1080/13803390802272036
M3 - Article
C2 - 18686112
AN - SCOPUS:67650714464
SN - 1380-3395
VL - 31
SP - 483
EP - 488
JO - Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology
JF - Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology
IS - 4
ER -