Development of perceptual inhibition throughout the lifespan: theoretical models and studies

Abstract

In this chapter, the experimental paradigms traditionally used to evaluate perceptual inhibition, and therefore selective attention, were briefly presented: The Stroop, Flanks, and Conjunction Visual Search paradigms. The Conjunction Visual Search paradigm was analyzed in greater detail, and the main studies in recent years that use it as a measure of perceptual inhibition in one or more stages of the life cycle were shown. At the same time, the methodological limitations of these works were raised: the scarcity of studies that address the analysis of the development of the process throughout the life course and the diversity in the use of paradigms to evaluate the same process in different evolutionary stages.