Brief Report: Manipulation of Task Difficulty in Inhibitory Control Tasks

Abstract

The present study investigated how task difficulty can be manipulated in inhibitory control tasks. Tasks from three widely used task paradigms — a Go/No-Go task, a Stop-Signal task, and a Flanker task — were manipulated on two parameters each (Go/No-Go task: interstimulus interval, prepotency. Stop-signal task: stop-signal-delay, prepotency. Flanker task: number of distractors, size of target stimulus). Participants were 86 children (age 4–6) from a population-based sample. The results showed no significant effects on the Go/No-Go task but both main and interaction effects on the Stop-Signal task and the Flanker task. Together, these findings indicate that task difficulty can be successfully manipulated in inhibitory control tasks. However, the interactive rather than additive effects on performance suggest that the level of one parameter only has the desired effect under certain conditions. This new information about how to manipulate task difficulty is important when adapting tasks for use with children of different ages, as well as when designing training programs for improving inhibitory control among children with ADHD.

Keywords:

• Flanker
• Go/No-Go
• Inhibition
• Stop-Signal
• Task difficulty

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by a grant from the Vardal Foundation.