CAREER: A multimethod approach to rethinking the dynamics of inhibitory control under stress

自愿停止做或思考某些事情的能力，被称为“抑制性控制”，对我们的生活很重要，尤其是在有压力的情况下。事实上，从心理治疗到军事训练，许多旨在改善人们功能和（或）生活质量的干预措施都试图提高这种能力。然而，我们对压力对抑制控制的影响的理解相对有限。该项目描述了压力情况如何影响抑制控制的认知机制和过程。因此，该项目的结果有可能确定相关干预措施可以针对的机制，以提高其有效性。此外，本项目收集的数据将用于编制一门可公开获得的新课程和讲习班，以传播关于项目成果的知识和使用项目方法所需的技术技能。这些成果和技术技能的传播可能会带来长期的社会效益，例如改善心理健康和生产力。尽管许多研究已经检查了压力对抑制控制的影响，但目前的理论和来自每个领域的主要文献的重要发现并没有在结合两者的工作中得到考虑。因此，在压力与抑制控制的研究中，矛盾的结果比比皆是，有些发现与目前的压力抑制理论难以调和。利用实验操纵的急性应激，计算认知模型，以及标准和小鼠跟踪认知任务，本项目的研究开发了压力如何影响抑制控制的新理论。分析方法不仅包括标准的行为分析，还包括唾液激素分析，认知模型参数估计以及细致的鼠标跟踪动态分析。目标是促进我们对环境因素（如压力）如何影响抑制控制的理解，这有助于基础科学的发展，并可能指导干预措施的发展，以改善抑制控制。该项目由感知、行动和认知以及刺激竞争研究的既定计划（EPSCoR）共同资助。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The ability to voluntarily stop ourselves from doing or thinking about certain things, referred to as “inhibitory control”, is important for navigating our lives, especially within stressful situations. Indeed, many interventions aimed at improving people’s functioning and/or quality of life, ranging from psychological therapy to military training, attempt to improve this ability. However, our understanding of the effects of stress on inhibitory control is relatively limited. This project characterizes how stressful situations influence the cognitive mechanisms and processes underlying inhibitory control. The results of this project thus have the potential to identify mechanisms that could be targeted by relevant interventions to improve their effectiveness. In addition, the data collected in this project will be used to develop a publicly available novel course, as well as workshops, to disseminate both the knowledge of the project’s results and the technical skills needed to use the project’s methods. The dissemination of these results and technical skills is likely to contribute to long-term societal benefits, such as improved mental health and productivity. Although a number of studies have examined the effects of stress on inhibitory control, current theory and important findings from each area’s primary literature have not been considered in the work combining the two. As a result, conflicting results abound in work on stress and inhibitory control, and some findings are difficult to reconcile with current theories of inhibition under stress. Using experimentally manipulated acute stress, computational cognitive modeling, and both standard and mouse-tracking cognitive tasks, the studies in this project develops a new theory of how stress influences inhibitory control. Analytic methods include not only standard behavioral analysis, but also salivary hormone assays, cognitive model parameter estimation, and analysis of nuanced mouse-tracking dynamics unfolding over time. The goal is to advance our understanding of how contextual factors, such as stress, influence inhibitory control, which contributes to both basic science and may guide the development of interventions to improve inhibitory control. This project is jointly funded by Perception, Action and Cognition and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.