Date of Award
12-2018
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Psychology
Committee Member
Dr. Kaileigh Byrne, Committee Chair
Committee Member
Dr. Leo Gugerty
Committee Member
Dr. Fred Switzer
Abstract
Previous research suggests that psychological pressure tends to exert detrimental effects on action-oriented cognitive tasks. However, the effect of psychological pressure on inhibitory cognitive processes has been relatively overlooked. Consequently, the goal of this study was to examine the effect of psychological pressure on response inhibition performance. Participants (N = 125) were assigned to either a time pressure condition or control condition, and then completed the Stop Signal Task, which tests response inhibition. Outcome variables of interest were stop accuracy, stop signal reaction time, and post error slowing. The results from the study indicated that time pressure significantly impaired stop signal accuracy relative to the control condition. However, time pressure did not affect stop signal reaction time or post error slowing. This study conforms to the distraction theory of performance pressure. From this study, the observed effects detail what can be seen from this type of pressure. With this information, studies can be conducted on other types of performance pressure to expand the knowledge of those effects.
Recommended Citation
Endres, Daniel N., "Effects of Performance Pressure on Response Inhibition Performance" (2018). All Theses. 2980.
https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses/2980