Mitigating habitation effect through a cognitive approach: the impact of motor inhibition training on the motor interference effect of dangerous objects

The processing of dangerous objects slows an individual’s prepared motor responses, a phenomenon referred to as the motor interference effect. This self-protective mechanism reduces the likelihood of accidental interactions with dangerous objects. However, habituation can diminish the motor interference effect over time, potentially increasing the risk of unsafe behaviors. To address this issue, the present study introduces a motor inhibition training protocol designed to counteract habituation effects by targeting specific stimuli. A prime-target grasping consistency judgment task was used as both a pre-test and post-test to evaluate the effectiveness of a 10-session Go/No-Go training program. The training used target stimuli identical to those in the judgment task, with the goal of enhancing individuals’ ability to inhibit responses to specific dangerous stimuli. The results demonstrated that the training not only mitigated the impact of habituation but also significantly prolonged reaction times to dangerous stimuli, indicating a dehabituation effect. Furthermore, Event-Related Potential analyses revealed that although the training exclusively employed dangerous stimuli as the No-Go condition to enhance inhibition of dangerous objects, the post-test results showed enhanced conflict monitoring and motor inhibition processing for both dangerous and safe stimuli within the experimental group. From a practical perspective, the dangerous (No-Go) stimuli used in the training task could be replaced with real-world dangerous objects relevant to specific work environments to strengthen the motor interference effect. This approach may offer a promising motor inhibition training strategy for reducing unsafe behaviors in real-world settings.