In the realm of cognition, inhibition refers to the ability to manage impulsive responses or behaviors. Sometimes, we have an initial thought about how to respond or act in a situation, but this may not be the most logical course of action. Inhibition helps us realize this, evaluate, and regulate our behavior before any impulsive actions are taken. This ability is necessary for many reasons, from communicating with others to safely moving through the world.
Inhibition is one facet of our executive function skills. Executive functions include the skills of planning, decision-making, problem-solving, managing time, cognitive flexibility, and regulating behavior.
These skills are high-level and more complex than many of our foundational cognitive functions, such as memory and attention. So, we need strong memory, attention, and other more basic cognitive skills to have strong executive function skills. For example, if you struggle with memory skills and have trouble recalling what tasks you want to complete today, it will be hard to use your executive functions to plan the day and manage your time.
Here are the two different types of inhibition that can help us understand this function’s role in our lives.
Also known as interference control, this refers to the ability to inhibit distraction from irrelevant stimuli. Attentional inhibition goes hand in hand with the skill of selective attention – filtering out unnecessary information to focus on the task at hand.
If an individual has a deficit in this type of inhibition, they likely find it difficult to focus on tasks or conversations. This may lead to issues with behavioral inhibition.
Also known as response inhibition, this refers to the ability to suppress an inappropriate response or behavior in a given situation. This can apply to social situations, such as inhibiting the urge to say or do something that would be inappropriate for the context. It can also apply to motor responses, such as being unable to stop fidgeting or applying a motor action to a situation that isn’t needed, such as pulling a fire alarm impulsively or initiating a physical fight without considering the repercussions.
One area where inhibition plays a key role is in lifestyle changes. Trying to change habits is difficult because we crave returning to our usual actions, so we must utilize our inhibition skills to achieve our goals. For example, if an individual is trying to get in the habit of eating healthier meals, they would use their attentional inhibition in the grocery store to filter out distracting unhealthy foods and only stick to their shopping list. They will use their behavioral inhibition to inhibit the motor actions of picking out foods they are trying to give up or from impulsively stopping for fast food on the way home.
Inhibition functions mainly occur in the prefrontal cortex, though different types of inhibition are thought to occur in distinct areas. The basal ganglia is also thought to play an important role in inhibition. Research shows that it may signal when to delay a motor action to give other areas of the brain time to consider the options.
A neurotransmitter called GABA is thought to be involved in inhibitory control. This chemical messenger can slow down the movement of impulses between neurons, giving the brain an extra split second to consider options before acting and, therefore, allowing us to inhibit undesirable behaviors.
We must use our inhibition to make beneficial decisions at work, school, and personal lives.
Through inhibition, we can filter out stimuli that are distracting or irrelevant, as well as manage our own behaviors. Here are a few examples of using inhibition in daily life:
When completing a task for school or work, we may have an impulse to abandon our work to check social media or watch TV. Inhibition allows us to analyze the decision’s repercussions and inhibit the behavior. We can ignore the impulse and continue working until it’s time to take a break.
Let’s say you’re working in a customer-facing role, and a customer is difficult. You may have the urge to say something rude to them on an impulse, but the better decision will often be just politely to resolve the conversation and move on. Inhibition lets you stop momentarily to analyze the situation and regulate your emotions before reacting. That way, you can determine how saying something rude would affect everyone involved. You might lose your job, or the customer could escalate the situation, which will get out of hand. Plus, getting angry at someone doesn’t feel good and might worsen your emotional state that day. Using inhibitory control can keep you from behaving rashly.
If you’re in a conversation with a group of friends, inhibition really comes in handy, as it stops us from interrupting others too much. If you don’t have strong inhibitory control, you may not check yourself on urges to interrupt during the conversation, which could frustrate your friends and make the situation less enjoyable.
If you have a pimple or a scab, inhibition is useful because it will help you leave it alone so it can heal faster. You can think ahead to how your actions will affect the skin and decide it’s better to let it heal. People without strong inhibitory control may pick at the blemish, causing more harm to the skin and making it heal more slowly.
If you have a mental health condition like depression, inhibition skills can prevent detrimental behavior associated with the condition. Behaviors such as self-isolating, ruminating on negative thoughts, or ignoring chores are common with this condition, but strong inhibition skills may prevent these behaviors.
Inhibitory control may become impaired through various conditions, and even lifestyle habits can affect our inhibition skills.
Conditions commonly associated with impaired inhibitory control are ADHD, OCD, brain injury, and strokes. These conditions may cause individuals to become distracted by stimuli more easily and to act impulsively. They may also have trouble inhibiting thought patterns and get carried away with unhelpful or catastrophizing thoughts.
In some cases, the opposite effect occurs, where an individual uses their inhibitory control in excess. In these cases, the person may often choose not to speak or take action because they are over-utilizing their inhibition and stopping themselves from saying or doing much.
Additionally, neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia can have an effect on inhibition. Individuals with dementia may say things impulsively or seem to behave in a way that is inappropriate for a situation. As neurodegenerative diseases progress, inhibitory control can decrease, so the individual isn’t able to consider the repercussions of their words or actions.
Alcohol and drug use can have a huge impact on our inhibition. While a person is intoxicated, their inhibitory control decreases, and they are more likely to make poor decisions that don’t consider the potential outcomes of their behavior.
Impairments can be temporary, such as in the case of drinking alcohol, or more permanent, such as in the case of dementia or a severe brain injury. However, in many cases, impaired inhibition can be improved through training.
In many cases, inhibition skills can be improved. When addressing an impairment in inhibition, an individual may see a professional who can provide a cognitive assessment. This can provide more information to the individual about their inhibition skills and the rest of their cognitive abilities. This is a great place to start, so it’s clear what training can be done to help the individual improve their cognition.
Then, interventions may be completed with a clinician to work on the impaired cognitive skills. Interventions commonly consist of cognitive exercises. These are designed to work out the affected areas of the brain. Research has shown that with regular practice and the help of a clinician, cognitive exercises can improve cognitive functions.
With the help of cognitive therapy, individuals can work on their inhibitory control and may be able to achieve better impulse control and decision-making skills, along with other cognitive benefits.
Inhibition is a crucial executive function skill, allowing us to think ahead, analyze our behavior, and prevent impulsive action. Our cognitive functions may become impaired due to various reasons in life; however, cognitive therapy is a way to address these impairments. With the proper interventions, individuals struggling with their inhibitory control may be able to regain this skill. As research continues in cognitive science, we hope to see even more understanding about how skills like inhibition may become impaired and how the impairments can be effectively treated. Consider the impact that your own inhibition skills have on your daily life and how lucky we are when our cognitive functions are healthy.
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