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Inhibition theory is based on the basic assumption that during the performance of any mental task requiring a minimum of mental effort, the subject actually goes through a series of alternating latent states of distraction and attention which cannot be observed and are completely imperceptible to the subject.
Additionally, the concept of inhibition or reactive inhibition which is also latent, is introduced. The assumption is made that during states of attention inhibition linearly increases with a slope a1 and during states of distraction inhibition linearly decreases with a slope a0. According to this view the distraction states can be considered a sort of recovery state.
It is further assumed, that when the inhibition increases during a state of attention, depending on the amount of increase, the inclination to switch to a distraction state also increases. When inhibition decreases during a state of distraction, depending on the amount of decrease, the inclination to switch to an attention state increases. The inclination to switch from one state to the other is mathematically described as a transition rate or hazard rate, making the whole process of alternating distraction times and attention times a stochastic process.