Encyclopedia of Child Behavior and Development

2011 Edition
| Editors: Sam Goldstein, Jack A. Naglieri

Go/No-Go Task

  • George Georgiou
  • Cecilia A. Essau
Reference work entry
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79061-9_1267
How to cite

Synonyms

The go/no-go task is similar to the stop-signal task in that both investigate the ability to inhibit a response.

Definition

The go/no-go is a cognitive task aimed at determining the ability of an individual to inhibit a response deemed inappropriate.

Description

Experimental paradigms measuring response times (RTs) often assess how the information-processing sequence of perception, decision making, and action are organized. A tool commonly employed in this endeavor is the two choice task which typically requires participants to respond to a presented stimulus using one of two possible choice responses [6]. An alternative tool is the go/no-go task where participants are required to either respond (i.e., pressing designated key) or withhold a response (not pressing designated key) depending on whether a go stimulus or a no-go stimulus is presented (Verbruggen & Logan, 2008). It has been argued that compared to the two choice task, the data collected from go/no-go procedure...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

References

  1. 1.
    Baddeley, A. D. (1986). Working memory. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
  2. 2.
    Barkley, R. A. (1997). Behavioral inhibition, sustained attention, and executive functions: Constructing a unifying theory of ADHD. Psychological Bulletin, 121(1), 65–94.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. 3.
    Berlin, L., & Bohlin, G. (2002). Response inhibition, hyperactivity, and conduct problems among preschool children. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 31(2), 242–251.Google Scholar
  4. 4.
    Carlson, S. M., & Moses, L. J. (2001). Individual differences in inhibitory control and children’s theory of mind. Child Development, 72, 1032–1053.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  5. 5.
    Dagenbach, D., & Carr, T. H. (1994). Inhibitory processes in attention, memory, and language. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.Google Scholar
  6. 6.
    Gomez, P., Ratcliff, R., & Perea, M. (2007). A model of the go/no-go task. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 136, 389–413.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  7. 7.
    Gordon, B., & Caramazza, A. (1982). Lexical decision for open- and closed-class words: Failure to replicate differential frequency sensitivity. Brain and Language, 15, 143–160.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  8. 8.
    Hurt, J., & Naglieri, J. A. (1992). Performance of delinquent and nondeliquent males on planning, attention, simultaneous, and successive cognitive processing tasks. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 48, 120–128.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  9. 9.
    Logan, G. D. (1985). Executive control of thought and action. Acta Psychologica, 60, 193–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  10. 10.
    Logan, G. D., & Cowan, W. B. (1984). On the ability to inhibit thought and action: A theory of an act of control. Psychological Review, 91, 295–327.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  11. 11.
    Nigg, J. T. (2000). On inhibition/disinhibition in developmental psychopathology: Views from cognitive and personality psychology and a working inhibition taxonomy. Psychological Bulletin, 126, 220–246.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  12. 12.
    Oosterlaan, J., Logan, G. D., & Sergeant, J. A. (1998). Response inhibition in AD/HD, CD, comorbid AD/HD+CD, anxious, and control children: A meta-analysis of studies with the stop task. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 39, 411–425.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  13. 13.
    Overtoom, C. C. E., Kenemans, J. L., Verbaten, M. N., Kemmer, C., van der Molen, M. W., van Engeland, H., et al. (2002). Inhibition in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: A psychophysiological study of the stop task. Biological Psychiatry, 51, 667–676.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  14. 14.
    Shue, K. L., & Douglas, V. I. (1992). Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and the frontal lobe syndrome. Brain and Cognition, 20, 104–124.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  15. 15.
    Simpson, A., & Riggs, K. J. (2005). Inhibitory and working memory demands of the day-night task in children. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 23, 317–333.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  16. 16.
    Voeller, K. K. S. (2004). Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Journal of Child Neurology, 19, 798–814.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  17. 17.
    Williams, B. R., Ponesse, J. S., Schachar, R., Logan, G. D., & Tanock, R. (1999). Development of inhibitory control across the lifespan. Developmental Psychology, 35, 205–213.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011

Authors and Affiliations

  • George Georgiou
    • 1
  • Cecilia A. Essau
    • 1
  1. 1.School of Human and Life SciencesRoehampton UniversityLondonUK