A cognitive hypothesis of the development of differentiative cortical inhibition in humans

Positive and inhibitory conditioning stimuli (Go/NoGo) were presented to healthy adults ( n = 35) in an experimental setting for angry face recognition with short intervals between the setting (face), conditioning, and triggering stimuli. A modification of the previously used experimental conditions that consisted in a reduction of the duration of the interstimulus intervals promoted an increase in attitude flexibility (expansion of the group of subjects that made no identification errors at the stage of set testing). The improvement of cognitive performance was accompanied by expansion of the zone of α-oscillation synchronization induced by the NoGo inhibitory conditioning stimulus. Synchronization of α-oscillations was less pronounced in subjects with a rigid cognitive set. Thus, the cognitive hypothesis of cortical inhibition (termed “internal inhibition” by I.P. Pavlov) has been confirmed. The concept of the emergence of top-down inhibitory effects in the prefrontal cortex, implicit internal representation, and selective modulation of attention is discussed.