Two decades of cross-species neuroscience research on rapid action-stopping in the laboratory has provided motivation for an underlying prefrontal–basal ganglia circuit. Here we provide an update of key studies from the past few years. We conclude that this basic neural circuit is on increasingly firm ground, and we move on to consider whether the action-stopping function implemented by this circuit applies beyond the simple laboratory stop signal task. We advance through a series of studies of increasing ‘real-worldness’, starting with laboratory tests of stopping of speech, gait and bodily functions, and then going beyond the laboratory to consider neural recordings and stimulation during moments of control presumably required in everyday activities such as walking and driving. We end by asking whether stopping research has clinical relevance, focusing on movement disorders such as stuttering, tics and freezing of gait. Overall, we conclude there are hints that the prefrontal–basal ganglia action-stopping circuit that is engaged by the basic stop signal task is recruited in myriad scenarios; however, truly proving this for real-world scenarios requires a new generation of studies that will need to overcome substantial technical and inferential challenges.

二十年来关于实验室快速动作停止的跨物种神经科学研究为潜在的前额叶基底神经节回路提供了动力。在这里，我们提供了过去几年的重要研究的更新。我们得出的结论是，这种基本神经回路的基础越来越牢固，并且我们继续考虑该回路实现的动作停止功能是否适用于简单的实验室停止信号任务。我们通过一系列增加“现实世界”的研究，从言语停止、步态和身体功能的实验室测试开始，然后超越实验室，考虑日常活动中可能需要的控制时刻的神经记录和刺激比如步行和开车。最后，我们询问停止研究是否具有临床意义，重点关注口吃、抽搐和步态冻结等运动障碍。总的来说，我们得出的结论是，有迹象表明，参与基本停止信号任务的前额叶-基底神经节动作停止回路在多种情况下都会被招募；然而，真正在现实世界场景中证明这一点需要新一代的研究，这些研究需要克服重大的技术和推理挑战。