---
title: "Distinct 'trigger failure' and speed-based failures in human response inhibition"
id: "biorxiv-7-two-types-of-response-inhibition-failures-in-humans"
canonical_url: "https://medichelpline.com/clinical-feed/biorxiv-7-two-types-of-response-inhibition-failures-in-humans"
content_type: "clinical_feed_article"
specialty: "Neurology"
source_name: "bioRxiv (Biomedical Preprints)"
source_url: "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.07.743566v1?rss=1"
published_at: "2026-08-08T11:31:01.000Z"
evidence_level: "Verified Feed"
license: "CC-BY-NC-4.0 / Informational Use"
---
# Distinct 'trigger failure' and speed-based failures in human response inhibition
## Provenance & Clinical Metadata
- **Canonical URL:** https://medichelpline.com/clinical-feed/biorxiv-7-two-types-of-response-inhibition-failures-in-humans
- **Specialty:** [Neurology](https://medichelpline.com/clinical-feed/neurology.md)
- **Primary Source:** bioRxiv (Biomedical Preprints)
- **Source URL:** [Original Journal Publication](https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.07.743566v1?rss=1)
- **Published At:** 2026-08-08T11:31:01.000Z
- **Evidence Rating:** Verified Feed
## Executive GIST (TL;DR)
- The study examines failures of **response inhibition**, a core executive function that prevents unwanted movements and supports goal-directed behavior. - The dominant model attributes inhibitory failures to a slow inhibition process that cannot intercept responses in time; an alternative hypothesis proposes a separate failure type where the inhibition process is never launched, termed **trigger failure (TF)**. - The authors applied **Bayesian process-mixture modeling** together with likelihood ratio testing and jackknife resampling to behavioral and neural data from 253 human participants to identify individual TF trials. - Analyses indicate that **trigger failures** constitute a distinct category of inhibitory failure, separate from failures caused by slow inhibitory processing. - Unlike other inhibitory failures, TF trials do not follow from premature motor responses, indicating a different behavioral signature. - TF trials lack the **stop-signal P3** event-related potential, a neural index commonly associated with response inhibition, providing electrophysiological evidence that the inhibitory process was not engaged. - The authors tested and report that TF do not appear to stem from perceptual or attentional lapses, suggesting TF reflect a qualitatively different executive breakdown. - The evidence supports the existence of at least two mechanistically distinct failure modes in human response inhibition: timing-limited failures and failures to initiate inhibition (TF). - The study used preprint reporting and has not been peer reviewed; methodological specifics beyond the listed analytic methods and sample size were not reported in the source abstract.
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Acker, Jan R Wessel doi: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.08.07.743566 This article is a preprint and has not been certified by peer review [[what does this mean?](https://www.biorxiv.org/about/FAQ#unrefereed)]. Stein F. Acker University of Iowa * [Find this author on Google Scholar](https://www.biorxiv.org/lookup/google-scholar?link_type=googlescholar&gs_type=author&author%5B0%5D=Stein%2BF.%2BAcker%2B "Open in new tab") * [Find this author on PubMed](https://www.biorxiv.org/lookup/external-ref?access_num=Acker%20SF&link_type=AUTHORSEARCH "Open in new tab") * [Search for this author on this site](https://www.biorxiv.org/search/author1%3AStein%2BF.%2BAcker%2B) Jan R Wessel University of Iowa * [Find this author on Google Scholar](https://www.biorxiv.org/lookup/google-scholar?link_type=googlescholar&gs_type=author&author%5B0%5D=Jan%2BR%2BWessel%2B "Open in new tab") * [Find this author on PubMed](https://www.biorxiv.org/lookup/external-ref?access_num=Wessel%20JR&link_type=AUTHORSEARCH "Open in new tab") * [Search for this author on this site](https://www.biorxiv.org/search/author1%3AJan%2BR%2BWessel%2B) * For correspondence: jan-wessel@uiowa.edu * [Abstract](https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.07.743566v1)[](https://www.biorxiv.org/panels_ajax_tab/biorxiv_tab_art/node:5688806/1) * [Info/History](https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.07.743566v1.article-info)[](https://www.biorxiv.org/panels_ajax_tab/biorxiv_tab_info/node:5688806/1) * [Metrics](https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.07.743566v1.article-metrics)[](https://www.biorxiv.org/panels_ajax_tab/article_tab_metrics/node:5688806/1) * [ Preview PDF](https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.07.743566v1.full.pdf+html)[](https://www.biorxiv.org/panels_ajax_tab/biorxiv_tab_pdf/node:5688806/1) ![Loading](https://www.biorxiv.org/sites/all/modules/contrib/panels_ajax_tab/images/loading.gif) ## Abstract Response inhibition is a key control function that allows humans to perform safe, goal-directed behaviors. The dominant behavioral-computational model holds that response inhibition fails when the inhibition process is too slow to intercept unwanted movements. However, many have hypothesized that some inhibitory failures instead result from a failure to launch the inhibition process altogether. Since no method exists to identify individual 'trigger failure' (TF) trials, they are hitherto a largely hypothetical phenomenon. We combined Bayesian process-mixture modeling with likelihood ratio testing and jackknife resampling to identify TF trials in 253 humans. We find that TF indeed represent a separate category from other inhibitory failures. Unlike other inhibitory failures, TF do not result from premature responses. Furthermore, TF lack a stop-signal P3 event-related potential, a neural index of response inhibition. Surprisingly, TF do not result from perceptual/attentional lapses. Thus, TF are a qualitatively distinct class of executive failure during response inhibition. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Copyright The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a [CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). bioRxiv and medRxiv thank the following for their generous financial support: > The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, the Sergey Brin Family Foundation, California Institute of Technology, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Imperial College London, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, The University of Edinburgh, University of Washington, and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. 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