Approach, Avoidance, and Inhibition: Personality Traits Predict Cognitive Control Abilities

Overview

Journal Pers Individ Dif

Date 2011 Jul 19

PMID 21765574

Citations 8

Authors

Ranjani Prabhakaran

David J M Kraemer

Sharon L Thompson-Schill

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The extent to which approach and avoidance personality trait sensitivities are associated with specific cognitive control abilities as well as with verbal and nonverbal domains remains unclear. In the current study, we investigated whether approach and avoidance trait sensitivities predict performance on verbal and nonverbal versions of the Stroop task, which taps the specific cognitive control ability of inhibiting task-irrelevant information. The findings from the current study indicate that whereas approach (specifically, Extraversion) sensitivity was predictive of verbal Stroop performance, avoidance (specifically, Behavioral Inhibition System) sensitivity was predictive of nonverbal Stroop performance. These results provide novel evidence suggestive of the integration of motivational personality traits and the ability to inhibit task-irrelevant information in a domain-specific fashion.

Citing Articles

Brain network topology and personality traits: A source level magnetoencephalographic study.

Troisi Lopez E, Colonnello V, Liparoti M, Castaldi M, Alivernini F, Russo P Scand J Psychol. 2022; 63(5):495-503.

PMID: 35674278 PMC: 9796445. DOI: 10.1111/sjop.12835.

UCancellation: A new mobile measure of selective attention and concentration.

Pahor A, Mester R, Carrillo A, Ghil E, Reimer J, Jaeggi S Behav Res Methods. 2022; 54(5):2602-2617.

PMID: 35106729 PMC: 8806014. DOI: 10.3758/s13428-021-01765-5.

Cognition and the development of temperament from late childhood to early adolescence.

Sesker A, Strickhouser J, Luchetti M, Lee J, Aschwanden D, Terracciano A J Res Pers. 2022; 95.

PMID: 35027777 PMC: 8752084. DOI: 10.1016/j.jrp.2021.104163.

Personality Traits and Impulsivity Tasks Among Substance Use Disorder Patients: Their Relations and Links With Retention in Treatment.

Gomez-Bujedo J, Lozano O, Perez-Moreno P, Lorca-Marin J, Fernandez-Calderon F, Diaz-Batanero C Front Psychiatry. 2020; 11:566240.

PMID: 33101084 PMC: 7506060. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.566240.

Behavioral Inhibition Underlies the Link Between Interoceptive Sensitivity and Anxiety-Related Temperamental Traits.

Lyyra P, Parviainen T Front Psychol. 2018; 9:1026.

PMID: 29977219 PMC: 6021514. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01026.

References

Van Kleeck M . Hemispheric differences in global versus local processing of hierarchical visual stimuli by normal subjects: new data and a meta-analysis of previous studies. Neuropsychologia. 1989; 27(9):1165-78. DOI: 10.1016/0028-3932(89)90099-7. View

Elliot A, Thrash T . Approach-avoidance motivation in personality: approach and avoidance temperaments and goals. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2002; 82(5):804-18. DOI: 10.1037//0022-3514.82.5.804. View

Smith E, Jonides J . Working memory: a view from neuroimaging. Cogn Psychol. 1997; 33(1):5-42. DOI: 10.1006/cogp.1997.0658. View

Volberg G, Hubner R . On the role of response conflicts and stimulus position for hemispheric differences in global/local processing: an ERP study. Neuropsychologia. 2004; 42(13):1805-13. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2004.04.017. View

Amodio D, Master S, Yee C, Taylor S . Neurocognitive components of the behavioral inhibition and activation systems: implications for theories of self-regulation. Psychophysiology. 2007; 45(1):11-9. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2007.00609.x. View

Harmon-Jones E, Gable P . Neural activity underlying the effect of approach-motivated positive affect on narrowed attention. Psychol Sci. 2009; 20(4):406-9. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02302.x. View

Tucker D, Williamson P . Asymmetric neural control systems in human self-regulation. Psychol Rev. 1984; 91(2):185-215. View

Shackman A, Sarinopoulos I, Maxwell J, Pizzagalli D, Lavric A, Davidson R . Anxiety selectively disrupts visuospatial working memory. Emotion. 2006; 6(1):40-61. DOI: 10.1037/1528-3542.6.1.40. View

Pomerantz J . Global and local precedence: selective attention in form and motion perception. J Exp Psychol Gen. 1983; 112(4):516-40. DOI: 10.1037//0096-3445.112.4.516. View

10.

Milham M, Banich M, Webb A, Barad V, Cohen N, Wszalek T . The relative involvement of anterior cingulate and prefrontal cortex in attentional control depends on nature of conflict. Brain Res Cogn Brain Res. 2001; 12(3):467-73. DOI: 10.1016/s0926-6410(01)00076-3. View

11.

Oke A, Keller R, Mefford I, Adams R . Lateralization of norepinephrine in human thalamus. Science. 1978; 200(4348):1411-3. DOI: 10.1126/science.663623. View

12.

Morimoto H, Hirose S, Chikazoe J, Jimura K, Asari T, Yamashita K . On verbal/nonverbal modality dependence of left and right inferior prefrontal activation during performance of flanker interference task. J Cogn Neurosci. 2008; 20(11):2006-14. DOI: 10.1162/jocn.2008.20138. View

13.

Miyake A, Friedman N, Emerson M, Witzki A, Howerter A, Wager T . The unity and diversity of executive functions and their contributions to complex "Frontal Lobe" tasks: a latent variable analysis. Cogn Psychol. 2000; 41(1):49-100. DOI: 10.1006/cogp.1999.0734. View

14.

Glick S, Ross D, Hough L . Lateral asymmetry of neurotransmitters in human brain. Brain Res. 1982; 234(1):53-63. DOI: 10.1016/0006-8993(82)90472-3. View

15.

Eisenberger N, Lieberman M, Satpute A . Personality from a controlled processing perspective: an fMRI study of neuroticism, extraversion, and self-consciousness. Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci. 2005; 5(2):169-81. DOI: 10.3758/cabn.5.2.169. View

16.

Friedman N, Miyake A, Young S, DeFries J, Corley R, Hewitt J . Individual differences in executive functions are almost entirely genetic in origin. J Exp Psychol Gen. 2008; 137(2):201-225. PMC: 2762790. DOI: 10.1037/0096-3445.137.2.201. View

17.

Gottfries C, Perris C, ROOS B . Visual averaged evoked responses (aer) and monoamine metabolites in cerebrospinal fluid (csf). Acta Psychiatr Scand Suppl. 1974; 255:135-42. DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0447.1974.tb08902.x. View

18.

Higgins E . Beyond pleasure and pain. Am Psychol. 1998; 52(12):1280-300. DOI: 10.1037//0003-066x.52.12.1280. View

19.

Smith E, Jonides J . Storage and executive processes in the frontal lobes. Science. 1999; 283(5408):1657-61. DOI: 10.1126/science.283.5408.1657. View

20.

WATSON D, Clark L . Negative affectivity: the disposition to experience aversive emotional states. Psychol Bull. 1984; 96(3):465-90. View