The anticue task: no effect of working memory load on inhibitory control
DOI: 10.26481/marble.2015.v6.386
archive: archived pipeline: cataloged verified
Get this paper ↗ (DOI — opens at the source; we link to it, we don't host it)
Summary
This study investigates the relationship between working memory (WM) load and inhibitory control, addressing the elusive mechanisms linking these executive functions. While previous research often reports a close link between WM and inhibition, the specific interplay remains unclear. The authors hypothesized that high WM load would disrupt effortful inhibitory control more than automatic response selection. To test this, they employed a novel behavioral paradigm: the anticue keypress task. In this task, participants must inhibit an automatic ipsilateral response to a visual cue and instead execute a volitional contralateral response, engaging top-down inhibitory processes. The experimental design involved 22 right-handed students performing four counterbalanced dual-task conditions: pro-cue (automatic response) versus anti-cue (inhibitory control) crossed with low WM load (remembering one letter) versus high WM load (remembering six letters). Reaction time (RT) trials featured randomized preparation intervals (PIs) of 150, 250, and 450 ms between cue and target onsets. Concurrently, participants maintained the letter sequences in memory, with probes ensuring active rehearsal. The study aimed to trace the time course of WM interference with proactive control by varying these PIs. The results demonstrated that WM load significantly affected memory performance, with higher error rates in the high-load condition (1.55%) compared to the low-load condition (0.36%). However, contrary to the hypothesis, WM load had no significant effect on reaction times in either the pro-cue or anti-cue tasks. Statistical analysis revealed no interaction between WM load and block type ($F(1, 21) = .21, p = .65$). The anti-cue task did show the expected cost-benefit pattern relative to preparation interval, with RT costs at the shortest PI (150 ms) transitioning to benefits at longer intervals, confirming the task’s sensitivity to inhibitory demands. Yet, this pattern was unaffected by the concurrent WM load. The authors conclude that there is no distinctive influence of WM load on inhibitory control compared to automatic response selection in this paradigm. They suggest that independent neural areas underlie WM performance and inhibitory control. Specifically, they propose that the verbal WM task relied on subvocal rehearsal mediated by the left inferior frontal gyrus, while inhibitory control in the anticue task engaged the right inferior frontal cortex and basal ganglia. This functional dissociation explains the lack of interference, challenging the assumption that WM load universally disrupts inhibitory processes and highlighting the importance of task-specific neural substrates.
Provenance
The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed.
| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | OpenAlex-citations | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-19 |
| archive | success | unpaywall | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-25 |
| extract | success | cached | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-26 |
| clean | success | clean | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-19 |
| chunk | success | chunk | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-19 |
| embed | success | embed | Qwen/Qwen3-Embedding-8B | — | 1 | 2026-06-19 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-19 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant | summ-v5 | 1 | 2026-06-26 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 6 | 2026-06-19 |
| verify | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-26 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-26; verification: verified.
Topics
Ranked by relevance to this paper. Hover a topic for its definition.