從抑制控制與錯誤監控機制來探討青少年的暴力行為

Inefficiency of inhibitory control and post-error adjustment in violent adolescents

本研究以暴力青少年為主要研究之對象，為了瞭解他們攻擊行為背後的成因，本實驗結合了周邊干擾作業與停止訊號作業，比較衝動型暴力青少年（實驗組）與一般青少年（控制組）在抑制控制、衝突監控、錯誤偵測與錯誤後補償歷程上的行為表現差異。本實驗的作業方式是讓受試者一開始先盯著螢幕正中央的一個凝視點，接著一個準備動作反應的目標刺激，受試者的作業是盡作的對接著出現的目標刺激作按鍵反應。在大部分的嘗試中，受試者必須做出反應，但於少數的嘗試中，受試者在看到動作反應的目標刺激之後，會接受到另一個指令，告訴他不要對目標刺激執行按鍵反應，因此他必須抑制自己原先的計畫，從快速反應改成按兵不動。研究結果顯示實驗組的停止訊號反應時間顯著地比控制組長，這顯示他們抑制自己行為的能力可能較差，在衝突監控的行為表現上發現，實驗組比控制組易受到周邊刺激的干擾，實驗結果亦發現只有控制組有錯誤後減慢的行為表現，綜合上述，我們看到青少年暴力行為個體與一般個體在抑制、衝突控制及錯誤監控歷程上的行為差異，顯示他們無法有效調控負面情緒，降低其抑制能力，導致犯下更多的錯誤，亦無法有效利用資訊，調整自身的行為。

Adolescent violent criminal behavior is often ascribed to problems with behavioral control and error processing. A sample of violent adolescents was compared to controls using a flanker task and a stop-signal task to examine inhibitory control conflict monitoring, error detection, and post error processing. Elevated SSRTs were seen for the violent adolescents and they made more errors. The conflict score of Go reaction in the violent adolescents was larger than that of the matched controls. These results suggest that impulsive violent offenders do have problems with inhibitory control. Our data also showed that only the control group showed a post-error slowing effect in reaction times. Post-error slowing is thought to reflect cognitive processes involved in error monitoring and correction. These findings offer insight into the underlying mechanisms that may be different in these individuals compared to matched controls, as well as the potential structures that may be involved in the altered patterns of behavior that they exhibit.