The ability to inhibit a behavioral response or action, and involving widespread regions of the brain (but especially the prefrontal cortex). It assessed by response inhibition tasks such as the go/no go task as the Stroop test, and constitutes an important expression of executive functioning. When this ability becomes impaired, it manifests itself in disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity, autism, and Tourette’s syndrome. Another executive function is switching to a different response. By means of functional brain imaging, it has been shown that response switching and motor inhibition are supported by the same neural systems (mainly involving the presupplementary motor area).
See Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Autism, Executive function, Frontal cortex, Functional brain imaging (fMRI), Go/no go task, Inhibitory control, Prefrontal cortex (PFC), Response inhibition tasks, Stroop test, Tourette’s syndrome