Is Resistance-to-Interference Domain-General or Domain-Specific? A multi-paradigm investigation

The research conducted in this multi-paradigm investigation aimed to address the question of whether resistance-to-interference (RI) processes are domain-general or domain-specific. Through four comprehensive studies, including a mini-review of behavioral, neuropsychological, and neuroimaging studies (Study 1), normative data collection for stimuli (Study 2), a comparison of RI abilities in young and older adults across domains using carefully matched tasks (Study 3), and an fMRI examination of neural substrates associated with RI (Study 4), the results consistently supported the view that RI is highly specific to the domain. While a general age-related decline was observed in visual, verbal phonological, and verbal semantic domains, the evidence overwhelmingly pointed towards domain-specific RI. This research contributes valuable insights into RI's cognitive mechanisms and emphasizes the importance of considering domain specificity when studying RI. Further investigations with well-matched tasks and robust experimental designs will be essential to advance our understanding of this complex cognitive process.