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Cognitive inhibition
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Cognitive inhibition
Cognitive inhibition refers to the mind's ability to tune out stimuli that are irrelevant to the task/process at hand or to the mind's current state. Additionally, it can be done either in whole or in part, intentionally or otherwise. Cognitive inhibition in particular can be observed in many instances throughout specific areas of cognitive science.
The early models of what would become the study and concept of cognitive inhibition were developed by Sigmund Freud. Inhibition was believed to play two primary roles: the prevention of unwanted thoughts or behaviors, and the repression of experiences from infancy and childhood. Freud believed cognitive inhibition was not just a lack of awareness to stimuli, but an active process, requiring a constant energy expenditure.
Other early theories of cognitive inhibition focused on its central developmental mechanisms and were founded by Luria and Vygotsky, two Russian psychologists. They proposed that children acquire control of behavior and thought through internalized speech, and that they consciously exhibit a cognitively inhibitory process in order to regulate their own behavior. Cognitive inhibition was thought to develop as mental control over behavior developed.
During the past 30 years inhibitory mechanisms such as cognitive inhibition have not been particularly prominent in developmental psychology, but currently they are undergoing a revival in the study of inefficient inhibition (explored in a later section) and resource limitations.
Cognitive inhibition can be seen at work during studies in developmental psychology. An experiment done by Friedman and Leslie explained children's performance in the false belief task as relying on a critical inhibitory process. What this demonstrated is that reaching the age of 3 or 4 triggers cognitive inhibition ability formation. The idea is that children who are 3 or 4 can suppress information from their cognitive experience in order to evaluate a situation from another's point of view. This is very important developmentally as it may interact with the formation of empathy: cognitive inhibition cannot be so great as to completely block one's experiences while evaluating another point of view, but must be strong enough to enable an accurate representation of that point of view. Other elements of cognitive inhibition that are studied in developmental psychology include memory formation or memory inhibition. It has been demonstrated that intentional inhibition of memory commitment is not fully developed until adulthood, and is very difficult for children to accomplish. This illustrates the fact that cognitive inhibition tasks, such as those in memory processing, are a gradually acquired skill rather than instinctual. Other cognitive functions that are developed gradually throughout childhood include exercising self-control over retained representational structures of information and quickly adapting cognitive processing to changing behavioral situations. Both of these functions were determined to be present throughout development, but not at full capacity until young adulthood. Evidently, the ability to intentionally ignore irrelevant details and to focus attention and cognitive ability on more relevant details is not present in young children and is a highly developmentally-related process.
Cognitive inhibition may have played a role in the survival of human children, in what is called betrayal trauma theory. "In situations involving treacherous acts by a caregiver, a 'cognitive information blockage' may occur that results in an isolation of knowledge of the event from awareness". This motivated forgetting caused by cognitive inhibition would have been necessary in the past to maintain the crucial relationship between child and caregiver so that the child would survive; therefore, cognitive inhibition has endured through evolution. For example, a parent or caregiver may have been abusive physically or emotionally to a child, perhaps not intentionally, but the effect would be the same to the child. However, the world outside the protection of the caregiver would be even less forgiving and almost certainly fatal to the child in ancient history. Being ontogenetically better able to cognitively inhibit the memory of the abuse to maintain the relationship became evolutionarily advantageous.[citation needed]
Behavioral psychology may play an important part in the development of cognitive inhibition. Cognitive inhibition is believed to strongly influence both sexual and aggressive urges within human society. When signals or stimuli are perceived by an individual, the mind processes the information and the body elicits a response. However, in the case of sexual arousal or perceived aggressive behavior, the individual needs to exercise caution in the cognitive processing of the incoming signals. This is where cognitive inhibition plays its part, preventing the individual from cognitively processing the stimuli and selecting an inappropriate response, thus potentially saving crucial social relationships. Behavior towards others in a social circle is strongly influenced by empathy, which can be seen as a form of cognitive inhibition. Empathy causes an individual to understand the physical/emotional pain and suffering of others. When an interaction occurs, cognitive inhibition on the part of the individual causes him or her to respond appropriately and avoid upsetting someone already in physical or emotional pain. Again, this is important in maintaining social relationships.[citation needed]
Behavioral control is an important application of cognitive inhibition in behavioral psychology, as is emotional control. Depression is an example of cognitive inhibition failure in emotion control. Correctly functioning cognitive inhibition would result in reduced selective attention to negative stimuli and retention of negative thoughts. "There is emerging evidence that depression is characterized by deficits in the inhibition of mood-congruent material. These deficits could result in prolonged processing of negative, goal-irrelevant aspects of presented information thereby hindering recovery from negative mood and leading to the sustained negative affect that characterizes depressive episodes". Anger is another important emotion affected by cognitive inhibition. "Trait anger is a robust predictor of the angry and aggressive response to hostile situational input, but it is important to better understand the mechanisms underlying this personality...individuals low in trait anger systematically recruit cognitive control resources within hostile contexts". When situations that may elicit anger leading to violence arise, cognitive inhibition is used extensively. Hostile stimuli magnitude are considered and ignored to avoid confrontation. Social context situations that may be interpreted as hostile are processed, and through cognitive inhibition, logic and reasoning are used to handle the situation. When a degree of cognitive inhibition ability is absent in an individual, it can result in "trait anger", or frequent angry and violent outbursts at relatively inoffensive stimuli. Without cognitive inhibition and its resulting omission of irrelevant or unimportant information, emotional stability can be compromised.
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Cognitive inhibition
Cognitive inhibition refers to the mind's ability to tune out stimuli that are irrelevant to the task/process at hand or to the mind's current state. Additionally, it can be done either in whole or in part, intentionally or otherwise. Cognitive inhibition in particular can be observed in many instances throughout specific areas of cognitive science.
The early models of what would become the study and concept of cognitive inhibition were developed by Sigmund Freud. Inhibition was believed to play two primary roles: the prevention of unwanted thoughts or behaviors, and the repression of experiences from infancy and childhood. Freud believed cognitive inhibition was not just a lack of awareness to stimuli, but an active process, requiring a constant energy expenditure.
Other early theories of cognitive inhibition focused on its central developmental mechanisms and were founded by Luria and Vygotsky, two Russian psychologists. They proposed that children acquire control of behavior and thought through internalized speech, and that they consciously exhibit a cognitively inhibitory process in order to regulate their own behavior. Cognitive inhibition was thought to develop as mental control over behavior developed.
During the past 30 years inhibitory mechanisms such as cognitive inhibition have not been particularly prominent in developmental psychology, but currently they are undergoing a revival in the study of inefficient inhibition (explored in a later section) and resource limitations.
Cognitive inhibition can be seen at work during studies in developmental psychology. An experiment done by Friedman and Leslie explained children's performance in the false belief task as relying on a critical inhibitory process. What this demonstrated is that reaching the age of 3 or 4 triggers cognitive inhibition ability formation. The idea is that children who are 3 or 4 can suppress information from their cognitive experience in order to evaluate a situation from another's point of view. This is very important developmentally as it may interact with the formation of empathy: cognitive inhibition cannot be so great as to completely block one's experiences while evaluating another point of view, but must be strong enough to enable an accurate representation of that point of view. Other elements of cognitive inhibition that are studied in developmental psychology include memory formation or memory inhibition. It has been demonstrated that intentional inhibition of memory commitment is not fully developed until adulthood, and is very difficult for children to accomplish. This illustrates the fact that cognitive inhibition tasks, such as those in memory processing, are a gradually acquired skill rather than instinctual. Other cognitive functions that are developed gradually throughout childhood include exercising self-control over retained representational structures of information and quickly adapting cognitive processing to changing behavioral situations. Both of these functions were determined to be present throughout development, but not at full capacity until young adulthood. Evidently, the ability to intentionally ignore irrelevant details and to focus attention and cognitive ability on more relevant details is not present in young children and is a highly developmentally-related process.
Cognitive inhibition may have played a role in the survival of human children, in what is called betrayal trauma theory. "In situations involving treacherous acts by a caregiver, a 'cognitive information blockage' may occur that results in an isolation of knowledge of the event from awareness". This motivated forgetting caused by cognitive inhibition would have been necessary in the past to maintain the crucial relationship between child and caregiver so that the child would survive; therefore, cognitive inhibition has endured through evolution. For example, a parent or caregiver may have been abusive physically or emotionally to a child, perhaps not intentionally, but the effect would be the same to the child. However, the world outside the protection of the caregiver would be even less forgiving and almost certainly fatal to the child in ancient history. Being ontogenetically better able to cognitively inhibit the memory of the abuse to maintain the relationship became evolutionarily advantageous.[citation needed]
Behavioral psychology may play an important part in the development of cognitive inhibition. Cognitive inhibition is believed to strongly influence both sexual and aggressive urges within human society. When signals or stimuli are perceived by an individual, the mind processes the information and the body elicits a response. However, in the case of sexual arousal or perceived aggressive behavior, the individual needs to exercise caution in the cognitive processing of the incoming signals. This is where cognitive inhibition plays its part, preventing the individual from cognitively processing the stimuli and selecting an inappropriate response, thus potentially saving crucial social relationships. Behavior towards others in a social circle is strongly influenced by empathy, which can be seen as a form of cognitive inhibition. Empathy causes an individual to understand the physical/emotional pain and suffering of others. When an interaction occurs, cognitive inhibition on the part of the individual causes him or her to respond appropriately and avoid upsetting someone already in physical or emotional pain. Again, this is important in maintaining social relationships.[citation needed]
Behavioral control is an important application of cognitive inhibition in behavioral psychology, as is emotional control. Depression is an example of cognitive inhibition failure in emotion control. Correctly functioning cognitive inhibition would result in reduced selective attention to negative stimuli and retention of negative thoughts. "There is emerging evidence that depression is characterized by deficits in the inhibition of mood-congruent material. These deficits could result in prolonged processing of negative, goal-irrelevant aspects of presented information thereby hindering recovery from negative mood and leading to the sustained negative affect that characterizes depressive episodes". Anger is another important emotion affected by cognitive inhibition. "Trait anger is a robust predictor of the angry and aggressive response to hostile situational input, but it is important to better understand the mechanisms underlying this personality...individuals low in trait anger systematically recruit cognitive control resources within hostile contexts". When situations that may elicit anger leading to violence arise, cognitive inhibition is used extensively. Hostile stimuli magnitude are considered and ignored to avoid confrontation. Social context situations that may be interpreted as hostile are processed, and through cognitive inhibition, logic and reasoning are used to handle the situation. When a degree of cognitive inhibition ability is absent in an individual, it can result in "trait anger", or frequent angry and violent outbursts at relatively inoffensive stimuli. Without cognitive inhibition and its resulting omission of irrelevant or unimportant information, emotional stability can be compromised.