Abstract

This paper focuses on inhibition and on its role in cognitive functioning, with particular attention to childhood. Inhibition is the ability to restrain impulsive behaviors, select relevant information, and suppress the interfering ones. It allows us to ignore what is distracting us, to take the time to think before acting and not to be at the mercy of internal needs or environmental stimuli. This paper aims to deepen and discuss some issues on inhibition that are still open in the field of cognitive psychology and that concern its nature, its relationship with other constructs and the possibility of intervening to enhance its development.