Inhibitory control enables subjects to quickly react to unexpected changes in external demands. In humans, this kind of behavioral flexibility is often used as an indicator of an individual's executive functions, and more and more research has emerged to investigate this link in nonhuman animals as well. Here we explored the value of a recently developed continuous inhibitory-control task in assessing inhibitory-control capacities in animals. Pigeons completed a response-inhibition task that required them to adjust their movement in space in pursuit of a reward across changing target locations. Inhibition was measured in terms of movement trajectory (path taken toward the correct location for trials in which the target location did and did not change) and velocity (both before and after correcting the trajectory toward the changed location). Although the observed velocities did not follow any of our predictions in a clear way, the pigeons' movement trajectories did prove to be a good indicator of inhibitory control, showing that pigeons, though limited in their capacities relative to the sophisticated control strategies expressed by humans, are capable of exerting some forms of inhibitory control. These results strengthen the role of this paradigm as a valuable tool for evaluating inhibitory-control abilities across the animal kingdom.

中文翻译：

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通过连续抑制控制任务来测量响应抑制。

抑制性控制使受试者能够快速应对外部需求的意外变化。在人类中，这种行为灵活性通常被用作个体执行功能的指标，并且越来越多的研究也开始研究非人类动物中的这种联系。在这里，我们探讨了最近开发的连续抑制控制任务在评估动物抑制控制能力中的价值。鸽子完成了抑制反应的任务，要求他们调整空间运动以在变化的目标位置获得奖励。根据运动轨迹（朝向目标位置发生变化且未发生变化的试验，朝正确位置采取的路径）和速度（朝着变化的位置校正轨迹之前和之后）进行抑制。尽管观察到的速度没有明确地遵循我们的任何预测，但是鸽子的运动轨迹确实证明是抑制控制的良好指标，表明鸽子虽然相对于人类表达的复杂控制策略而言能力有限能够发挥某些形式的抑制控制作用。这些结果加强了该范例作为评估整个动物界抑制控制能力的有价值工具的作用。能够施加某种形式的抑制控制。这些结果加强了该范例作为评估整个动物界抑制控制能力的有价值工具的作用。能够施加某种形式的抑制性控制。这些结果加强了该范例作为评估整个动物界抑制控制能力的有价值工具的作用。