What We Can Learn from Horse Races: Response Inhibition Across Species

Response inhibition is a critical cognitive ability that supports flexible and adaptive behavior across taxa. Gordon Logan's contributions, particularly with regards to the stop-signal paradigm and the accompanying independent horse race model, have shaped our understanding of response inhibition in humans. The purpose of this paper is to extend these findings to animal cognition, examining response inhibition in animals. I will demonstrate why Gordon's seminal work on response inhibition, as well as his work on learning and automaticity, warrants further consideration in animal cognition and related fields. In particular, the independent horse race model and its refinements provide a powerful framework for bridging theoretical constructs and empirical data across domains. Moreover, the race model highlights the need for careful interpretation of behavioral results, especially in tasks where the contribution of distinct cognitive and motivational processes cannot easily be disentangled. By integrating insights from the independent horse race model and broader cognitive theories, we can refine our approaches to studying response inhibition in animals, paving the way for more precise interpretations of behavior across different ecological and evolutionary contexts.