Neurobehavioral maturation of motor response inhibition in adolescence - A narrative review

Abstract

Immature motor response inhibition in adolescence is considered contributory to adolescent risk-taking and externalizing behaviors. We review studies reporting age-related variations in motor response inhibition and MRI measurements from typically-developing adolescents. Reviewed studies measured response inhibition using one of three tasks-the Stop Signal Task, Go/No-Go, and Antisaccade Task. Task reliability appears to be particularly strong for the SST. Across tasks and study designs, results indicate that inhibitory control improves markedly through early adolescence. The trajectory of change in later adolescence and into young adulthood (i.e., linear or plateauing) varies depending on the task design. Neuroimaging studies identify adult-like response inhibition networks that are involved in behavioral development. The pros and cons of each task are discussed, including recommendations to guide future studies. Ongoing studies in large longitudinal datasets offer opportunities for further exploration of the shape of change in response inhibition, related neural regions, and associations with other affective and cognitive processes to identify potential impacts of motor response inhibition immaturities or individual differences on adolescent risk-taking behaviors.

Keywords: Action inhibition; Adolescent development; Inhibitory control measurement; Inhibitory control neural activity; Response inhibition.

Figure 1.

Depiction of typical trial course in A) Stop Signal Task (adapted from Verbruggen et al., 2008). Two visual stimuli are paired with left and right responses during a Go task. During a Stop Trial (25% frequency), the Go signal is followed by an auditory Stop Signal after a delay, SSD. B) Depiction of a typical trials course in Go/No-Go, where individuals respond to Go stimuli (~75% frequency, e.g., all letters except “X”) but refrain from responding to No-Go stimuli (e.g., “X”). C) Depiction of a trial course of a prosaccade trial, where instructions are to look in the direction of the target (filled circle) after a PS signal (open circle) and away from the direction of the target after an AS signal (X, adapted from Velanova et al., 2008).