Inhibitory Control and Its Relation to Personality/Temperament, Executive Function, and the Brain" (2017)
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Southern Illinois University Carbondale OpenSIUC Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 8-1-2017 INHIBITORY CONTROL AND ITS RELATION TO PERSONALITY/ TEMPERAMENT, EXECUTIVE FUNCTION, AND THE BRAIN Sarah Mailander Dyer Southern Illinois University Carbondale, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/dissertations Recommended Citation Dyer, Sarah Mailander, "INHIBITORY CONTROL AND ITS RELATION TO PERSONALITY/TEMPERAMENT, EXECUTIVE FUNCTION, AND THE BRAIN" (2017). Dissertations. 1439. http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/dissertations/1439 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at OpenSIUC. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of OpenSIUC. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INHIBITORY CONTROL AND ITS RELATION TO PERSONALITY/TEMPERAMENT, EXECUTIVE FUNCTION, AND THE BRAIN by Sarah Mailander Dyer B.A., Princeton University, 1993 M.S., Florida State University, 2000 A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy Department of Psychology in the Graduate School Southern Illinois University Carbondale August 2017 Copyright by Sarah Mailander Dyer, 2017 All Rights Reserved DISSERTATION APPROVAL INHIBITORY CONTROL AND ITS RELATION TO PERSONALITY/TEMPERAMENT, EXECUTIVE FUNCTION, AND THE BRAIN By Sarah Mailander Dyer A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the field of Clinical Psychology Approved by: Dr. Michelle Y. Kibby, Chair Dr. Kimberly D. Asner-Self Dr. Lisabeth DiLalla Dr. David Gilbert Dr. Reza Habib Graduate School Southern Illinois University Carbondale March 7, 2017 AN ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION OF Sarah Mailander Dyer, for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Clinical Psychology, presented on March 7, 2017, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale TITLE: INHIBITORY CONTROL AND ITS RELATION TO PERSONALITY/TEMPERAMENT, EXECUTIVE FUNCTION, AND THE BRAIN MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Michelle Kibby Inhibitory control, described as the ability to suppress one response in favor of a goal- directed response, is thought to play an important role in the development of emotional regulation as well as various forms of psychopathology, including ADHD. Up until very recently, inhibitory control has been researched within two completely separate fields of study: temperament and neuropsychology. In the temperament/personality literature, inhibitory control is a major component of the overarching temperament/personality factor of Effortful Control/Conscientiousness. In the field of neuropsychology, inhibitory control is considered one aspect of executive function. Further complicating the current understanding of inhibitory control is the complexity of the underlying neural networks implicated in inhibitory control. This study examined inhibitory control in temperament and executive function in children with and without ADHD, and it explored the relationship between inhibitory control and the superior frontal cortex (SFC) and orbital frontal cortex (OFC) volumes. In order to assess subareas of the OFC and SFC, an innovative parcellation method was used. Results suggested that the temperament and executive function measures of inhibitory control did form a single factor as long as they were measured within the same modality, parent-report. In contrast, the performance-based measure of inhibitory control was not correlated with any of the parent-report measures of inhibitory control and was, therefore, analyzed separately in relation to OFC and i SFC volumes. Parent-rated inhibitory control was predicted by ADHD status only, but exploratory analyses suggested that left anterior SFC, right and left anterior medial OFC, and gender were related to parent-rated inhibitory control. In contrast, performance-based inhibitory control was predicted by gender and left SFC, specifically posterior left SFC. Taken together, these findings suggest a conceptual overlap between temperament and executive function that brings together two areas of the literature and has implications for the understanding of various forms of psychopathology characterized by deficits in inhibitory control. This study provides evidence for the role of the SFC and the OFC in inhibitory control, depending upon the measurement method, and contributes to the broader understanding of the neural mechanisms of inhibitory control in children. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................................... i LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................ vii LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................... viii CHAPTERS CHAPTER 1 – Introduction........................................................................................................1 CHAPTER 2 – Literature Review ..............................................................................................6 Inhibitory Control in Personality and Temperament ...........................................................6 Personality: Definition and Structure.............................................................................7 Temperament: Definition and Structure ......................................................................11 The Relationship between Personality and Temperament ............................................14 Inhibitory Control in Personality and Temperament ....................................................16 Measurement of Inhibitory Control as a Personality/Temperament Trait ....................20 Development of Inhibitory Control in Temperament/Personality ................................25 Biological Mechanisms Underlying Inhibitory Control in Temperament/Personality ......................................................................................26 Genetic and Neurochemical Contributions to Inhibitory Control as a Temperament/Personality Trait .............................................................................31 Psychopathology and Inhibitory Control as a Temperament/Personality Trait ............33 Inhibitory Control as an Executive Function in the Neuropsychological Literature .........36 Executive Function: Definition and Structure .............................................................36 Measurement of Inhibitory Control as an Executive Function .....................................42 iii Development of Inhibitory Control as an Executive Function .....................................49 Biological Mechanisms Underlying Inhibitory Control as an Executive Function ......54 Genetic and Neurochemical Contributions to Inhibitory Control as an Executive Function .......................................................................................61 Psychopathology and Inhibitory Control as an Executive Function .............................64 Inhibitory Control: An Integrated Understanding of Personality/Temperament and Executive Function..........................................................................................67 Inhibitory Control: Integration of Definitions and Theory ..........................................68 Inhibitory Control: Integration of Measurement Issues ...............................................70 Inhibitory Control: Integration of Developmental Pathways.......................................72 Inhibitory Control: Integration of Underlying Biological Mechanisms ......................74 Inhibitory Control: Integration of Genetic and Neurochemical Contributions ............77 Inhibitory Control: Integration of the Relationship of Inhibitory Control with Psychopathology ............................................................................................77 Empirical Evidence Directly Linking Inhibitory Control in Temperament/Personality and Executive Function ...............................................79 Purpose of the Current Study ........................................................................................84 Hypotheses ....................................................................................................................85 CHAPTER 3- Method...............................................................................................................86 Participants .........................................................................................................................86 Measures ............................................................................................................................87 Demographic measures .................................................................................................87 Measure of inhibitory control as a temperament/personality trait ................................88 Parent-rated measure of inhibitory control as an executive function ...........................90 Computer-based measure of inhibitory control as an executive function .....................90 iv Prefrontal cortex volumes .............................................................................................91 Parcellation method ...........................................................................................................91 Procedure ...........................................................................................................................95