Event-Related Brain Potentials in the Study of Inhibition: Cognitive Control, Source Localization and Age-Related Modulations

Neurocognitive performance of badminton players at different competitive levels in visuospatial attention tasks

Visuospatial attention (VSA) is a cognitive function that enables athletes, particularly those engaged in open-skill sports, to allocate attentional resources efficiently to the appropriate target and in the appropriate direction. Studies have indicated that expert players exhibit superior cognitive performance to that of novices. However, no study has investigated differences in VSA performance among elite, expert, and intermediate badminton players or the potential neurophysiological mechanisms underlying such differences. Accordingly, the present study explored neuropsychological and neurophysiological parameters during VSA tasks among badminton players of varying competitive levels. The study included 54 participants and divided them into three groups according to their competition records: elite (n = 18), expert (n = 18), and intermediate (n = 18). Their neuropsychological performance and brain event-related potentials (ERPs) during the Posner cueing paradigm were collected. Although the three groups did not differ in their accuracy rates, ERP N2 amplitudes, or N2 or P3 latencies, the elite and expert groups exhibited notably faster reaction times and more pronounced P3 amplitudes than did the intermediate group during the cognitive task. However, we did not observe these between-group differences when we controlled for the covariate training years. Additionally, the elite and expert groups exhibited comparable neurocognitive performance. These findings indicate that badminton players' competitive levels influence their VSA. However, the beneficial effects on neuropsychological and neurophysiological performance could stabilize after a certain level of badminton competence is reached. Year of training could also be a major factor influencing badminton players' neurocognitive performance in VSA tasks.

The influence of feature-based attention and response requirements on ERP correlates of auditory awareness

In search for the neural correlates of consciousness (NCCs), it is important to isolate the true NCCs from their prerequisites, consequences, and co-occurring processes. To date, little is known about how attention affects the event-related potential (ERP) correlates of auditory awareness and there is contradictory evidence on whether one of them, the late positivity (LP), is affected by response requirements. By implementing a GO-NOGO design with target and nontarget stimuli, we controlled for feature-based attention and response requirements in the same experiment, while participants rated their awareness using a perceptual awareness scale. The results showed a prolonged auditory awareness negativity (AAN) for aware trials, which was influenced neither by attention nor by response requirement. The LP was affected by both attention and response requirements. Consistent with the levels of processing hypothesis, the LP was related to consciousness as a correlate of the processing of higher-level stimulus features, likely requiring access to a "global workspace." Our findings further suggest that AAN is a proper ERP correlate of auditory consciousness and thus a true NCC in the auditory modality.

The impact of social comparison on self-deception: An event-related potentials study

Self-deception refers to an individual holding inflated beliefs about their abilities, and it plays a crucial role in human behavior and decision-making. The present study employed event-related potentials (ERPs) technique to explore the neural responses to the impacts of social comparison direction and comparison gap on self-deceptive behavior. They were instructed to predict their performance in the forward-looking paradigm. Behavioral responses and neural reactions during the decision-making process were documented. The behavioral results indicated that, in contrast to the downward comparison condition, participants engaged in upward comparison exhibited more occurrences of self-deception. However, within the context of upward comparison, participants demonstrated a higher frequency of self-deception in the large gap condition compared with the small gap condition. The ERP results showed that induced self-deception under conditions with a large comparative gap between participants and their paired counterparts stimulated larger P300 and smaller N400 amplitude than under conditions with a small gap. However, when participants were in the upward comparison situation, the late positive potential (LPP) amplitude induced by self-deception behavior in the condition of a large comparison gap between participants and paired opponents was larger than that in the condition of a small comparison gap. These results indicated that individuals in the large gap group feel strong unfairness and negative emotions. More importantly, the self-deception induced by the large gap group in the upward comparison situation used fewer cognitive resources than the small gap condition, whereas the individuals in the downward comparison situation did not show the difference in cognitive resources.

Problematic Gaming and Gambling: A Systematic Review of Task-Specific EEG Protocols

Even though gaming and gambling bear similar problematic behavioral aspects, there are no recognizable neurophysiological biomarkers or features characterizing and/or distinguishing these conditions. A systematic review of the literature with a focus on methods was performed in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science (Web of Science Core Collection), EBSCOhost Research Databases (APA PsycINFO; APA PsycArticles; OpenDissertations; ERIC) databases. Following search terms were used to search the databases: ERP, "event related potential*", EP, "evoked potential*", SS, "steady state", EEG, electroencephal*; gam*. Data about the participants (total number, gender, age), main aim of the study and information about the experimental setup (experimental task description, stimuli used, ERPs measured (latency windows and placement of the electrodes), process evaluated) was extracted. A total of 24 studies were revised (problematic gaming - 16, pathological gambling - 8). The experimental protocols could be grouped into 3 main target domains (Cue-reactivity, General Information processing and Reward Processes & Risk Assessment). Sample-related limitations (small sample sizes, gender differences, differences between the groups regarding potential confounding variables) and heterogeneity regarding the experimental tasks, implementation and interpretation reviewed. Gambling-related research is highly focused on the investigation of the reward-related processes, whereas gaming-related research is mostly focused on the altered aspects of more general information processing. A vast heterogeneity regarding the ERP experimental paradigms being used and lack of clear guidelines and standardized procedures prevents identification of measures capable to reliably discriminate or characterize the population susceptible to addictive behavior or being able to diagnose and monitor these disorders.

Cardiorespiratory fitness is associated with cognitive performance in 80 + -year-olds: Detangling processing levels

Cardiorespiratory fitness is known to protect against cognitive decline in older adults. Specifically, it has been shown that physical activity and fitness are beneficial for executive functions that are crucial for independent living up to old age. In this study, 115 individuals aged 80 years and older underwent a cardiorespiratory fitness assessment using the two-minute step test and had their electroencephalogram recorded during a colored flanker task in order to measure executive function performance. Cardiorespiratory fitness was related to quicker responses during the flanker task. A mediation analysis was carried out to determine whether these positive effects were mediated through event-related potentials (N1, N2, or P3) or motor-related cortical potentials (MRCP). Cardiorespiratory fitness was related to better visual discriminative processing as indicated by larger occipital N1 amplitudes. In addition, fitness was associated with larger MRCP amplitudes, which are a correlate of the response generation process. Fitness was not found to have a significant effect on fronto-central N2 or parietal P3, which are thought to capture cognitive control processes such as conflict detection and response inhibition. Moreover, all effects reported were present in all three flanker trial conditions (congruent, neutral, and incongruent). Thus, these results indicate that the quicker response times in fitter people were related to visual processing and motor response generation rather than cognitive control.

Effect of emotional stimulus on response inhibition in people with mild cognitive impairment: an event-related potential study

Background

A few studies are emerging to explore the issue of how aging promotes emotional response inhibition. However, there is a lack of empirical study concerning the impact of pathological cognitive impairment on emotional response inhibition. The present study investigated the effect of emotion on response inhibition in people with mild cognitive impairment, the stage of cognitive impairment before dementia.

Methods

We used two emotional stop-signal tasks to explore whether the dual competition framework considering limited cognitive resources could explain the relationship between emotion and response inhibition in mild cognitive impairment.

Results

The results showed that negative emotions prolonged N2 latency. The Go trial accuracy was reduced in the high-arousal negative conditions and the stop-signal reaction time was prolonged under high-arousal conditions. This study also verified impaired response inhibition in mild cognitive impairment and found that negative emotions prolonged P3 latency in mild cognitive impairment.

Conclusion

Emotional information interferes with response inhibition in mild cognitive impairment populations, possibly because emotional information captures more attentional resources, thus interfering with response inhibition that relies on common-pool resources.

Evaluation of Event-Related Potentials in Somatic Diseases - Systematic Review

Many somatic illnesses (e.g. hypertension, diabetes, pulmonary and cardiac diseases, hepatitis C, kidney and heart failure, HIV infection, Sjogren's disease) may impact central nervous system functions resulting in emotional, sensory, cognitive or even personality impairments. Event-related potential (ERP) methodology allows for monitoring neurocognitive processes and thus can provide a valuable window into these cognitive processes that are influenced, or brought about, by somatic disorders. The current review aims to present published studies on the relationships between somatic illness and brain function as assessed with ERP methodology, with the goal to discuss where this field of study is right now and suggest future directions.

Aerobic Exercise Improves Cortical Inhibitory Function After Stroke: A Preliminary Investigation

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Aerobic exercise can elicit positive effects on neuroplasticity and cognitive executive function but is poorly understood after stroke. We tested the effect of 4 weeks of aerobic exercise training on inhibitory and facilitatory elements of cognitive executive function and electroencephalography markers of cortical inhibition and facilitation. We investigated relationships between stimulus-evoked cortical responses, blood lactate levels during training, and aerobic fitness postintervention.

METHODS

Twelve individuals with chronic (>6 months) stroke completed an aerobic exercise intervention (40 minutes, 3×/wk). Electroencephalography and motor response times were assessed during congruent (response facilitation) and incongruent (response inhibition) stimuli of a Flanker task. Aerobic fitness capacity was assessed as o2peak during a treadmill test pre- and postintervention. Blood lactate was assessed acutely (<1 minute) after exercise each week. Cortical inhibition (N2) and facilitation (frontal P3) were quantified as peak amplitudes and latencies of stimulus-evoked electroencephalographic activity over the frontal cortical region.

RESULTS

Following exercise training, the response inhibition speed increased while response facilitation remained unchanged. A relationship between earlier cortical N2 response and faster response inhibition emerged postintervention. Individuals who produced higher lactate during exercise training achieved faster response inhibition and tended to show earlier cortical N2 responses postintervention. There were no associations between o2peak and metrics of behavioral or neurophysiologic function.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

These preliminary findings provide novel evidence for selective benefits of aerobic exercise on inhibitory control during the initial 4-week period after initiation of exercise training and implicate a potential therapeutic effect of lactate on poststroke inhibitory control.

Subsyndromal depression leads to early under-activation and late over-activation during inhibitory control: an ERP study

Individuals with depressive disorders have deficits in inhibitory control and exhibit symptoms of impaired cognitive and emotional functioning. Individuals with subsyndromal depression are intermediate between the healthy group and clinically diagnosed patients with depressive disorders, and studying the characteristics of their inhibitory control functioning can help to investigate the mechanisms underlying the development of depressive disorders. Using two classical paradigms of inhibitory control, Flanker and Go/NoGo, the present study explored the differences in inhibitory control between individuals with subsyndromal depression and healthy individuals from the perspectives of both response inhibition and interference control. Behavioral results showed that both groups did not differ in response time and accuracy; in terms of event-related potentials, individuals with subsyndromal depression presented smaller N2 amplitudes as well as larger P3 amplitudes in the NoGo condition of the Go/NoGo paradigm; and smaller N2 amplitudes in the incongruent condition of the Flanker paradigm. Moreover, the depression-prone group showed lower theta power compared to the healthy group in the NoGo condition of the NoGo paradigm and the incongruent condition of the Flanker paradigm. The present study reveals that the depression-prone group may have a compensatory mechanism in the response inhibition, which is mainly manifested as early under-activation as well as late over-activation.

Cortical hemodynamics and inhibitory processing in preadolescent children with low and high physical activity

Background

Preadolescent children undergo developmental changes in inhibitory control. Maintenance of high levels of moderate-to-vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA) has been suggested to promote its maturation. We compared inhibitory control between children with low and high MVPA as well as their inhibitory processing stream and changes in cortical hemodynamics.

Method

109 participants aged 10 to 13 years wore accelerometers over 7 days. Those with MVPA levels of 30 min/d or less and 60 min/d or more further performed a computerized Stroop Color-Word task. Electroencephalography and functional near-infrared spectroscopy were used to record changes in inhibitory processing and cortical hemodynamics, respectively.

Results

An interaction of MVPA group and sex indicated better interference in highly-active boys, but the opposite pattern in girls. Independent from sex, the high compared to low MVPA group showed greater P300 and PSW amplitudes, whereas no group differences were found for N200, N450, and changes in cortical hemodynamics.

Conclusion

Children with high MVPA differ from their less-active peers by a distinct inhibitory processing profile, which is characterized by altered allocation of attentional resources and conflict resolution. However, these alterations do not necessarily translate into better performance, especially since MVPA is linked with higher inhibitory control in boys only.

The Association of Physical Activity and Stress-induced Neurocognitive Impairments in Inhibitory Control in Children

Background

Evaluation stress can impair inhibitory control, limiting the ability of children to perform cognitively. However, evidence on protective factors is lacking as stress-induced cognitive impairments are poorly understood. High physical activity has been related to better inhibitory control and has the potential to buffer the response to a stressor. We investigated the association of physical activity and stress-induced changes in inhibitory control as well as its underlying cognitive control processes (i.e., conflict monitoring and resolution).

Method

Participants (10 to 13 y) with either low (N = 55) or high moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (N = 55) completed the Trier Social Stress Test for Children (TSST-C) and a control task in a randomized order. During both conditions, salivary cortisol was collected. Additionally, a computerized Stroop task was administered before and after the experimental conditions. The N200 and positive slow wave (PSW) components of event-related potentials elicited by the Stroop task were recorded using electroencephalography.

Results

In comparison to the control task, the TSST-C elicited a pre-to post-test decrease of accuracy on incompatible trials. Path-analyses further revealed that this decrease was related to low physical activity and a reduced PSW amplitude. However, both the N200 and PSW amplitudes did not mediate the relation between physical activity groups and performance on the Stroop task.

Conclusion

In children, evaluation stress decreases inhibitory control partly due to a reduced effectiveness of conflict resolution processes. Only children with high physical activity maintain inhibitory control after facing the stressor. However, this protective effect cannot be attributed to changes in conflict monitoring and resolution.

Intimate Relationships Weaken Female Competition: Evidence from Phase-amplitude Coupling and Event-Related Potentials

Competition, an essential component of social interaction, frequently occurs in daily life, and the impact of intimate relationships on women's competition has not yet been revealed. In this study, the visual target paradigm was used to explore the neural mechanisms underlying the regulation of female competitiveness by intimate relationships using event-related potential (ERP) data, time-frequency analysis, and brain functional connectivity. The research results indicate that, the P1, the N4, and the LPP were sensitive to the impact of intimate relationships on competition. Compared to competition between unfamiliar opposite-gender dyads, the average amplitudes of the N4 and LPP were higher in the late stage of competition between romantic partners. Compared to competition with strangers of the opposite gender, alpha band power was significantly higher when female individuals competed with their romantic partners. In addition, there was a positive correlation between the synchronization of activity in the frontal, parietal, and right temporal lobes of a female's brain and their degree of female engagement in competition. When a female individuals focused on the competition, activity synchronization was higher. The results indicate that competition with unfamiliar individuals of the opposite gender can make female focus on the competitive task, causing synchronous activation of corresponding brain regions. When competing with a romantic partner, women's focus decreases, their willingness to compete decreases, and the synchrony of brain functional connectivity decreases. This study suggests that intimate relationship weakens women's competitiveness, which is of significant importance for understanding high-quality intimate relationship and promoting the development of healthy competition.

A Behavioral and Event-Related Potentials Study of Food-Related Inhibitory Control in Probable Binge Eating Disorder

Background

Similar to addictive disorders, deficits on cognitive control might be involved in the onset and development of Binge Eating Disorder (BED). However, it remains unclear whether general or food-related inhibitory control impairments would be basically linked to overeating and binge eating behaviors. This study thus aimed to investigate behavioral performance and electrophysiological correlates of food-related inhibitory control among individuals with binge eating behavior.

Methods

Sixty individuals with probable BED (pBED) and 60 well-matched healthy controls (HCs) were assessed using the typical Stop-Signal Task, a revised Go/No Go Task, and a food-related Go/No Go Task. Besides, another separate sample, including 35 individuals with pBED and 35 HCs, completed the food-related Go/No Go Task when EEG signals were recorded with the event-related potentials (ERPs).

Results

The data revealed that the pBED group performed worse with a longer SSRT on the Stop-Signal Task compared with HCs (Cohen's d = 0.58, p = 0.002). Moreover, on the food-related Go/No Go Task, the pBED group had a lower success rate of inhibition in no-go trials (Cohen's d = 0.47, p = 0.012). The ERPs data showed that in comparison with HCs, the pBED group exhibited increased P300 latency (FC1, FC2, F3, F4, FZ) in the no-go trials of the food-related Go/No Go Task (Cohen's d 0.56-0.73, all p < 0.05).

Conclusion

These findings suggested that individuals with binge eating could be impaired in both non-specific and food-related inhibitory control aspects, and the impairments in food-related inhibitory control might be linked to P300 abnormalities, implying a behavioral-neurobiological dysfunction mechanism implicated in BED.

Frontal Alpha Asymmetry in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Group Differences Among Individuals With and Without PTSD During an Inhibitory Control Task

The current study examined frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) as a marker of approach- and avoidance-related prefrontal activity in participants with and without trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We investigated FAA in an inhibitory control paradigm (threatening vs nonthreatening cues) under 2 levels of cognitive demand (baseline: images constant within a block of trials; vs filtering: images varied randomly within a block) in 3 groups of participants: individuals with PTSD (n = 16), exposed to trauma but without PTSD (n = 14), and a control group without PTSD or trauma exposure (n = 15). Under low demand (baseline), both PTSD and trauma-exposed participants exhibited significantly greater relative left than right frontal brain activity (approach) to threatening than to nonthreatening images. Under high demand (filtering), no FAA differences were found between threatening and nonthreatening images, but PTSD participants revealed more relative left than right FAA, whereas trauma-exposed participants showed reduced left relative right FAA. In all conditions, healthy controls exhibited reduced left relative to right FAA and no differences between threatening and nonthreatening images. Study findings suggest dysfunctional prefrontal mechanisms of emotion regulation in PTSD, but adaptive prefrontal regulation in trauma-exposed individuals without PTSD.

Cognitive aging at work and in daily life-a narrative review on challenges due to age-related changes in central cognitive functions

Demographic change is leading to an increasing proportion of older employees in the labor market. At the same time, work activities are becoming more and more complex and require a high degree of flexibility, adaptability, and cognitive performance. Cognitive control mechanism, which is subject to age-related changes and is important in numerous everyday and work activities, plays a special role. Executive functions with its core functions updating, shifting, and inhibition comprises cognitive control mechanisms that serve to plan, coordinate, and achieve higher-level goals especially in inexperienced and conflicting actions. In this review, influences of age-related changes in cognitive control are demonstrated with reference to work and real-life activities, in which the selection of an information or response in the presence of competing but task-irrelevant stimuli or responses is particularly required. These activities comprise the understanding of spoken language under difficult listening conditions, dual-task walking, car driving in critical traffic situations, and coping with work interruptions. Mechanisms for compensating age-related limitations in cognitive control and their neurophysiological correlates are discussed with a focus on EEG measures. The examples illustrate how to access influences of age and cognitive control on and in everyday and work activities, focusing on its functional role for the work ability and well-being of older people.

The ups and downs of bilingualism: A review of the literature on executive control using event-related potentials

Whether bilingualism enhances executive control (EC) is controversial. This article reviews 24 studies on the bilingual EC effect using event-related potentials (ERPs). It evaluates the evidence based on considerations of neural efficiency, different EC theories, and accounts regarding the locus of the bilingual effect. The review finds some evidence for a positive bilingual impact. This is more consistent for the P3 and response-locked ERPs. Moreover, when considering each component independently, evidence primarily supports a monitoring and secondarily an inhibition locus. Additionally, an N2/ERN (error-related negativity) dissociation (no bilingual N2 effect but positive ERN impact, evident as smaller ERN), coupled with the P3 results, suggest that monitoring may not be the (only) locus of a bilingual effect but (an)other post-monitoring mechanism(s). Attention disengagement also receives some support. Finally, results across studies are largely consistent with the Bilingualism Anterior to Posterior and Subcortical Shift model (BAPSS): Bilingual effects, when found, often manifest as shorter latencies, larger components or wider amplitude effects during earlier (N2, P3) but smaller components or narrower effects during later processing (stimulus-locked negativities and response-locked components). However, this evidence is not unequivocal. Many bilingual-monolingual comparisons reveal null or some suggest negative or opposite to prediction bilingual effects. Second, the scant evidence about which bilingual experiences impact EC is, generally, unclear, while some evidence indicates negative effects. Third, BAPSS is often not confirmed when multiple components are examined within subjects. Finally, this literature is challenged by confounds and small samples. Further research is required to conclude a positive bilingual effect on EC in ERPs.

Classification of age groups and task conditions provides additional evidence for differences in electrophysiological correlates of inhibitory control across the lifespan

The aim of this study was to extend previous findings on selective attention over a lifetime using machine learning procedures. By decoding group membership and stimulus type, we aimed to study differences in the neural representation of inhibitory control across age groups at a single-trial level. We re-analyzed data from 211 subjects from six age groups between 8 and 83 years of age. Based on single-trial EEG recordings during a flanker task, we used support vector machines to predict the age group as well as to determine the presented stimulus type (i.e., congruent, or incongruent stimulus). The classification of group membership was highly above chance level (accuracy: 55%, chance level: 17%). Early EEG responses were found to play an important role, and a grouped pattern of classification performance emerged corresponding to age structure. There was a clear cluster of individuals after retirement, i.e., misclassifications mostly occurred within this cluster. The stimulus type could be classified above chance level in ~ 95% of subjects. We identified time windows relevant for classification performance that are discussed in the context of early visual attention and conflict processing. In children and older adults, a high variability and latency of these time windows were found. We were able to demonstrate differences in neuronal dynamics at the level of individual trials. Our analysis was sensitive to mapping gross changes, e.g., at retirement age, and to differentiating components of visual attention across age groups, adding value for the diagnosis of cognitive status across the lifespan. Overall, the results highlight the use of machine learning in the study of brain activity over a lifetime.

Martial Arts and Cognitive Control in Children with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Children Born Very Preterm: A Combined Analysis of Two Randomized Controlled Trials

INTRODUCTION

Very preterm birth and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are associated with impairments in response inhibition that often persist beyond childhood. Athletes skilled in martial arts show a neurocognitive profile that is associated with an improved inhibition processing stream, suggesting that engagement in this kind of sport has the potential to reduce impairments in this cognitive function. We investigated the behavioral and neurocognitive effects of judo training on response inhibition in children born very preterm and children with ADHD by a combined analysis of two randomized controlled trials.

METHODS

In both the CHIPMANC ( n = 65) and JETPAC ( n = 63) studies, participants were randomly allocated to a waitlist or a 12-wk judo training program in a 1:1 ratio. At pretest and posttest, participants completed a Go/NoGo task, the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2 and a physical work capacity test on a bicycle ergometer. During the cognitive task, event-related potentials (N2, P3a, P3b) were recorded via electroencephalography.

RESULTS

The effects of the judo training were moderated by the study group. In contrast to children with ADHD (JETPAC), judo training reduced the commission error rate on the Go/NoGo task and increased the P3a amplitude in children born very preterm (CHIPMANC). No treatment effects were found for N2, P3b and physical fitness outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

The neurodevelopmental condition influences the cognitive benefits of judo training. Whereas judo may be ineffective in children with ADHD, children born very preterm can expect improved response inhibition due to a more effective engagement of focal attention to resolve the task-related response conflict.

A Comparative Event-Related Potentials Study between Alcohol Use Disorder, Gambling Disorder and Healthy Control Subjects through a Contextual Go/NoGo Task

(1) Background: Inhibitory and rewarding processes that mediate attentional biases to addiction-related cues may slightly differ between patients suffering from alcohol use (AUD) or gambling (GD) disorder. (2) Methods: 23 AUD inpatients, 19 GD patients, and 22 healthy controls performed four separate Go/NoGo tasks, in, respectively, an alcohol, gambling, food, and neutral long-lasting cueing context during the recording of event-related potentials (ERPs). (3) Results: AUD patients showed a poorer inhibitory performance than controls (slower response latencies, lower N2d, and delayed P3d components). In addition, AUD patients showed a preserved inhibitory performance in the alcohol-related context (but a more disrupted one in the food-related context), while GD patients showed a specific inhibitory deficit in the game-related context, both indexed by N2d amplitude modulations. (4) Conclusions: Despite sharing common addiction-related mechanisms, AUD and GD patients showed different patterns of response to (non-)rewarding cues that should be taken into account in the therapeutic context.

The cognitive control mechanism of improving emotion regulation: A high-definition tDCS and ERP study

BACKGROUND

Cognitive reappraisal as a commonly used emotion regulation strategy includes reinterpretation and detachment and is associated with the activity of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). However, the neuroenhancement mechanisms of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over DLPFC that modulate cognitive reappraisal are not yet fully understood. This work aims to verify the causal role of DLPFC in different tactics of cognitive reappraisal and further explore the cognitive control mechanisms of emotion regulation.

METHODS

A single-blind, within-subjects, sham-controlled design was adopted. Twenty-nine healthy subjects underwent two sessions of offline high-definition tDCS (HD-tDCS) that were targeted at the right DLPFC. Participants completed the cognitive control (Flanker) and cognitive reappraisal task in each session. We quantified the efficacy of cognitive control using N2 and P3 of the evoked brain responses and cognitive reappraisal using the late positivity potential (LPP).

RESULTS

Anodal HD-tDCS resulted in the decrease of LPP for reinterpretation and detachment. The cognitive control increased after stimulation, indicated by the increase of P3 and decrease of N2 amplitude. The increased cognitive control mediated the effect of HD-tDCS on modulating reinterpretation, but not for detachment.

LIMITATIONS

The single-blind design, absence of the lasting-effects measure, and the intrinsically limited focality of tDCS are limitations of this study.

CONCLUSIONS

Increasing the activity of DLPFC would facilitate emotion regulation and increase cognitive control. Cognitive control may be a significant potential mechanism for reinterpretation. Both tDCS and cognitive control interventions may be possible approaches to enhance emotion regulation.

Electrophysiological evidence for the effectiveness of images versus text in warnings

Warning sign plays an important role in risk avoidance. Many studies have found that images are better warnings than text, while others have revealed flaws of image-only warning signs. To better understand the factors underlying the effectiveness of different types of warning signs (image only, text only, or image and text), this study adopted event-related potential technology to explore the differences at the neurocognitive level using the oddball paradigm and the Go/No-go paradigm. Together, the behavioral and electroencephalogram results showed that text-only warnings had the lowest effectiveness, but there was little difference between the image-only and image-and-text warnings. The differences in the effects of the three warning signs were mainly in the areas of attention and cognitive control, implying differences in the underlying cognitive processes. Therefore, in the design of warning signs, the effects of different design attributes on cognitive processing should be taken into account based on actual needs in order to improve the effectiveness of the signs.

Stimulus-dependent deliberation process in left- and right-handers obtained via current source density analysis

The aim of the present study was to compare the activity patterns of young, healthy right- (RH, n = 25) and left-handed (LH, n = 20) subjects in high-density electroencephalograpic (EEG) recordings during a deliberation task. The deliberation task consisted of pressing one of two keys depending on a color-word Stroop task (Stroop, 1935) presented on a computer screen. Depending on the color shown and the meaning of the color word, participants responded with the index finger of the dominant or non-dominant hand. This leads to different activities in the hemispheres depending on the acting hand and on subject's handedness. Presenting the word "black" in black color, subjects were not to press any key (no-go-trial). Prior to this, subjects were tested for simple motor tasks, during which they were informed about the motor action to be performed. The temporal activity patterns obtained from RH and LH were very similar in shape and constituent components. The comparison of the three types of trials lead to the assumption that the deliberation process is based on a two-step decision: The first decision was characterized by the choice between move (match-trials, mismatch-trials) or not to move (no-go-trials). The second decision resulted in the final judgment of which index finger has to be used. The latter decision, in particular, can be tracked via the local spread of activity over the scalp. Our hypothesis is based on a comparison of activities and locations of RH and LH and yields some insights about processing a two-step decision in a deliberation task.

Therapist reactions to patient personality: A pilot study of clinicians’ emotional and neural responses using three clinical vignettes from in treatment series

Introduction

Therapists’ responses to patients play a crucial role in psychotherapy and are considered a key component of the patient–clinician relationship, which promotes successful treatment outcomes. To date, no empirical research has ever investigated therapist response patterns to patients with different personality disorders from a neuroscience perspective.

Methods

In the present study, psychodynamic therapists (N = 14) were asked to complete a battery of instruments (including the Therapist Response Questionnaire) after watching three videos showing clinical interactions between a therapist and three patients with narcissistic, histrionic/borderline, and depressive personality disorders, respectively. Subsequently, participants’ high-density electroencephalography (hdEEG) was recorded as they passively viewed pictures of the patients’ faces, which were selected from the still images of the previously shown videos. Supervised machine learning (ML) was used to evaluate whether: (1) therapists’ responses predicted which patient they observed during the EEG task and whether specific clinician reactions were involved in distinguishing between patients with different personality disorders (using pairwise comparisons); and (2) therapists’ event-related potentials (ERPs) predicted which patient they observed during the laboratory experiment and whether distinct ERP components allowed this forecast.

Results

The results indicated that therapists showed distinct patterns of criticized/devalued and sexualized reactions to visual depictions of patients with different personality disorders, at statistically systematic and clinically meaningful levels. Moreover, therapists’ late positive potentials (LPPs) in the hippocampus were able to determine which patient they observed during the EEG task, with high accuracy.

Discussion

These results, albeit preliminary, shed light on the role played by therapists’ memory processes in psychotherapy. Clinical and neuroscience implications of the empirical investigation of therapist responses are discussed.

Improving fluid intelligence of children through working memory training: The role of inhibition control

Intelligence is strongly associated with working memory. Working memory training can improve fluid intelligence, but the underlying mechanism requires further investigation. Because inhibition control may play a key role in working memory training, this study investigated this process from an electrophysiological perspective. In total, 40 children aged 9 to 11 years were enrolled and randomly divided into a training group (n = 20) and a control group (n = 20). The training group received 20 days of working memory training, whereas the control group did not receive any training. Before and after the training period, all participants were tested using Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices (RSPM), and electrophysiological indicators were recorded while they performed go/no-go and Stroop tasks. The results revealed that relative to the control group, the training group had significantly improved RSPM scores in the test conducted after their training. For the go/no-go tasks, the training group exhibited a significant decrease in N2 amplitude, a significant increase in P3 amplitude, a significant decrease in theta band energy, and an improvement in response inhibition ability. No significant change was observed for the Stroop task. Correlation analysis revealed that an improvement in individual response inhibition can positively predict an improvement in fluid intelligence. These results suggest that working memory training enhances the fluid intelligence of children by enhancing their response inhibition ability.

Age-related no-go P300 amplitudes are moderated by exposure to early-life stress

Deficits in inhibitory control are common with advancing age and may underlie declines in other complex cognitive functions. The inhibitory P300 event-related potential (ERP) generally decreases in amplitude with age, reflecting deficits in inhibitory performance evaluation and adaptation, with possible generators including precentral and inferior frontal gyri and midcingulate and parietal cortex. Exposure to early-life stress (ELS) is also associated with deficits in inhibitory control, smaller P300 amplitudes, and dysfunction in regions associated with P300 generation. Although biopsychosocial effects of ELS are evident in older adulthood, the influence of ELS on neural processes in later life is unknown. In the current study, 13 young adults and 21 healthy older adults completed a high-accuracy go/no-go task and the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire (JVQ), an indicator of ELS. Regression analyses revealed significant central-parietal models, with smaller P300 amplitudes predicted by both older age and greater exposure to ELS. Age group*ELS interactions moderated P300 prediction at central and centro-parietal electrodes, such that older age predicted smaller P300 amplitudes only in those with lower to moderate ELS. Amplitudes did not significantly differ by age in those with higher ELS. Post-hoc within-age group correlations showed that greater ELS was associated with smaller P300 amplitudes in young adults. However, greater ELS was modestly associated with larger central amplitudes in older adults, potentially suggestive of anterior age-related compensatory recruitment to maintain high task performance. These findings suggest long-lasting neural implications of ELS that interact with normative neuro-cognitive aging processes, such that ELS may be an important risk factor for age-related cognitive decline.

Time of Day Effects on Inhibitory Functioning: Cognitive and Neural Evidence of Sundowning in Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment

Background: Amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), a prodromal phase of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), is characterized by episodic memory dysfunction, but inhibitory deficits have also been commonly reported. Time of day (TOD) effects have been confirmed in 1) healthy aging on cognitive processes such as inhibitory control, and 2) on behavior in AD (termed the sundowning effect), but no such research has addressed aMCI. Objective: The present study examined the impact of TOD on the behavioral and electrophysiological correlates of inhibition in 54 individuals with aMCI and 52 healthy controls (HCs), all of morning chronotype. Methods: Participants were randomly assigned to complete two inhibition tasks (Go-NoGo and Flanker) during their optimal (morning) or non-optimal (evening) TOD, while electroencephalography was recorded. Results: Both tasks elicited changes in N2 and P3 event-related potential (ERP) components, which commonly index inhibitory functioning. Analyses showed that the Go-NoGo difference in P3 amplitude was reduced in individuals with aMCI relative to HCs. Compared to HCs, the Flanker difference in P3 amplitude was also reduced and coincided with more errors in the aMCI group. Notably, these behavioral and ERP differences were exaggerated in the non-optimal TOD relative to the optimal TOD. Conclusion: Findings confirm the presence of inhibition deficits in aMCI and provide novel evidence of sundowning effects on inhibitory control in aMCI. Results reinforce the need to consider the influences of TOD in clinical assessments involving individuals with aMCI.

"Free won't" of food in overweight and normal-weight adults: Comparison of neurocognitive correlates of intentional and reactive inhibitions

Food-related inhibition plays a critical role in the manifestation of overweight. Previous research has focused exclusively on stimulus-driven (reactive) inhibition, which is different from intentional inhibition that refers to an internally generated decision to "stop". This study investigated the food-related neurophysiological correlates of intentional and reactive inhibitions in overweight and normal-weight adults. We compared 35 overweight participants (OWs) and 34 normal-weight participants (NWs) on performance and electroencephalography-based measures during a food-related go/no-go/choose task. In this task, participants made reactive responses to an instructed go/no-go target or made intentional choices whether to execute or inhibit a keypress when presented with a free-choice target. Our results mainly showed, 1) for group-difference, N2a amplitudes of OWs were less negative than that of NWs in the intentional trials; 2) for source difference, N2a amplitudes were less negative in reactive condition than in intentional condition uniquely in OWs. Moreover, comparison across intentional responses revealed that P2 amplitudes in no-go trials were lower than in go trials. Additionally, a greater body mass index correlated with lower intentional no-go-P2 and reactive go/no-go-P2 amplitudes. These findings suggest that overweight is associated with deficits in food-related intentional inhibition, which is segregated from reactive inhibition. The individual differences in premotor inhibition during free-choice situations might provide an explanation for overeating behaviors in overweight adults' daily life. Further, our results refine the ERP marker of intentional inhibition from N2 to N2a, which could be an essential neural mechanism underlying the "free won't" of food in OWs.

Hyperprolactinemia Associated with Attentional Processing and Interference Control Impairments in Patients with Prolactinomas

The cognitive impairment of pituitary adenomas (PAs) has received increasing attention. Hyperprolactinemia and tumor mass effect are the potential causes. The aim of this study was to identify possible cognitive impairment and to further explore the correlation between these indices and prolactin (PRL) levels, based on the control of tumor size. Twenty-seven patients with prolactinomas (patient group) and twenty-six matched health control group (HC group) were enrolled in this study. All participants performed the flanker task while we continuously recorded electroencephalography data. On the behavioral performance level, patients showed a significantly slower reaction time (RT) in both flanker types. Concerning the event-related potentials level, patients elicited reduced P2 and enhanced N2 amplitudes compared with the HC group, suggesting an impairment of attentional processing (P2) and conflict monitoring (N2). Moreover, the patient group also induced lower P3 amplitudes relative to the HC group in both types, indicating that there were deficits in attentional resource allocation ability. We also found a significant correlation between the P3 amplitudes and incongruent condition RTs, as well as the subsequent PRL levels in the patient group. In conclusion, this is an innovative study that reveals the impaired cognition abilities in prolactinomas, and also proposes the possible cognitive toxicity of oversecreted PRL levels, which provides evidence for further research on the cognitive decline in PAs.

Effects of Online Single Pulse Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on Prefrontal and Parietal Cortices in Deceptive Processing: A Preliminary Study

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was used to test the functional role of parietal and prefrontal cortical regions activated during a playing card Guilty Knowledge Task (GKT). Single-pulse TMS was applied to 15 healthy volunteers at each of three target sites: left and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and midline parietal cortex. TMS pulses were applied at each of five latencies (from 0 to 480 ms) after the onset of a card stimulus. TMS applied to the parietal cortex exerted a latency-specific increase in inverse efficiency score and in reaction time when subjects were instructed to lie relative to when asked to respond with the truth, and this effect was specific to when TMS was applied at 240 ms after stimulus onset. No effects of TMS were detected at left or right DLPFC sites. This manipulation with TMS of performance in a deception task appears to support a critical role for the parietal cortex in intentional false responding, particularly in stimulus selection processes needed to execute a deceptive response in the context of a GKT. However, this interpretation is only preliminary, as further experiments are needed to compare performance within and outside of a deceptive context to clarify the effects of deceptive intent.

Effects of Core Disgust and Moral Disgust on Moral Judgment: An Event-Related Potential Study

Core disgust is elicited by physical or chemical stimuli, while moral disgust is evoked by abstract violations of moral norms. Although previous studies have pointed out these two types of disgust can affect behavior and spatial dimensions of moral judgment, less is known about how moral and core disgust affect the temporal neural processing of moral judgment. In addition, whether moral and core disgust are only related to purity-based moral judgment or all kinds of moral judgment is still controversial. This study aimed to explore how core and moral disgust affect the neural processing of purity-based moral judgment by using affective priming and moral judgment tasks. The behavioral results showed that the severity of moral violation of non-purity ones is higher than purity ones. The event-related potentials (ERP) results mainly revealed that earlier P2 and N2 components, which represent the automatic moral processes, can differentiate neutral and two types of disgust rather than differentiating moral domain, while the later N450, frontal, and parietal LPP components, which represent the conflict detection and, later, cognitive processing can differentiate the purity and non-purity ones rather than differentiating priming type. Moreover, core and moral disgust priming mainly differed in the purity-based moral processing indexed by parietal LPP. Our findings confirmed that the disgusting effect on moral judgments can be explained within the framework of dual-process and social intuitionist models, suggesting that emotions, including core and moral disgust, played an essential role in the automatic intuition process. The later parietal LPP results strongly supported that core disgust only affected the purity-based moral judgment, fitting the primary purity hypothesis well. We show how these theories can provide novel insights into the temporal mechanisms of moral judgment.

Neurophysiological correlates of interference control and response inhibition processes in children and adolescents engaging in open- and closed-skill sports

BACKGROUND

Accumulating evidence suggests that sports participation promotes the development of inhibitory control, but the influences of the sports category and inhibition type still remain unclear. The categorization of sports based on the open-skill (externally paced) and closed-skill (self-paced) continuum allows for the integration of the environment as a factor contributing to sports-related benefits for inhibitory control.

METHODS

Cross-sectional data from different studies were combined (n = 184) to examine the association between open- and closed-skill sports and cognitive control processes related to interference control and response inhibition. Participants (aged 9-14 years) filled in 7-day physical activity recall protocols and completed a Stroop Color-Word or a Go/NoGo task. The N200, N450, and P300 components of event-related potentials elicited by these tasks were recorded using electroencephalography.

RESULTS

Partial correlations supported the belief that time spent in open-skill sports was related to higher performance on inhibition trials. Additionally, path analyses revealed an association between this sports type and a greater negativity in the N200 and N450 amplitudes in both the full sample and group-level analyses. In contrast, no relation was found between sports type and P300 amplitude.

CONCLUSION

The findings suggest that only the engagement in open-skill sports is associated with more effective conflict monitoring and higher performance on tasks demanding inhibitory control.

Conditional generative adversarial networks applied to EEG data can inform about the inter-relation of antagonistic behaviors on a neural level

Goal-directed actions frequently require a balance between antagonistic processes (e.g., executing and inhibiting a response), often showing an interdependency concerning what constitutes goal-directed behavior. While an inter-dependency of antagonistic actions is well described at a behavioral level, a possible inter-dependency of underlying processes at a neuronal level is still enigmatic. However, if there is an interdependency, it should be possible to predict the neurophysiological processes underlying inhibitory control based on the neural processes underlying speeded automatic responses. Based on that rationale, we applied artificial intelligence and source localization methods to human EEG recordings from N = 255 participants undergoing a response inhibition experiment (Go/Nogo task). We show that the amplitude and timing of scalp potentials and their functional neuroanatomical sources during inhibitory control can be inferred by conditional generative adversarial networks (cGANs) using neurophysiological data recorded during response execution. We provide insights into possible limitations in the use of cGANs to delineate the interdependency of antagonistic actions on a neurophysiological level. Nevertheless, artificial intelligence methods can provide information about interdependencies between opposing cognitive processes on a neurophysiological level with relevance for cognitive theory.

An artificial intelligence algorithm trained on EEG recordings can be used to predict brain dynamics underpinning motor inhibition processes using neurophysiological information from motor execution.

Sports Augmented Cognitive Benefits: An fMRI Study of Executive Function with Go/NoGo Task

Exercise is believed to have significant cognitive benefits. Although an array of experimental paradigms have been employed to test the cognitive effects on exercising individuals, the mechanism as to how exercise induces cognitive benefits in the brain remains unclear. This study explores the effect of dynamic neural network processing with the classic Go/NoGo task with regular exercisers. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to analyze the brain activation of areas involved in executive function, especially inhibitory control. Nineteen regular joggers and twenty-one subjects as a control group performed the task, and their brain imaging data were analyzed. The results showed that at the attentive visual period, the frontal and parietal areas, including the prefrontal cortex, putamen, thalamus, lingual, fusiform, and caudate, were significantly enhanced in positive activities than the control group. On the other hand, in the following inhibitory control processing period, almost the same areas of the brains of the exercise group have shown stronger negative activation in comparison to the control group. Such dynamic temporal response patterns indicate that sports augment cognitive benefits; i.e., regular jogging increases the brain's visual attention and inhibitory control capacities.

Temporal Dynamics of Event-Related Potentials during Inhibitory Control Characterize Age-Related Neural Compensation

Aging is accompanied by frontal lobe and non-dominant hemisphere recruitment that supports executive functioning, such as inhibitory control, which is crucial to all cognitive functions. However, the spatio-temporal sequence of processing underlying successful inhibition and how it changes with age is understudied. Thus, we capitalized on the temporal precision of event-related potentials (ERPs) to assess the functional lateralization of N200 (conflict monitoring) and P300 (inhibitory performance evaluation) in young and healthy older adults during comparably performed successful stop-signal inhibition. We additionally used temporal principal components analysis (PCA) to further interrogate the continuous spatio-temporal dynamics underlying N200 and P300 activation for each group. Young adults demonstrated left hemisphere-dominant N200, while older adults demonstrated overall larger amplitudes and right hemisphere dominance. N200 activation was explained by a single PCA factor in both age groups, but with a more anterior scalp distribution in older adults. The P300 amplitudes were larger in the right hemisphere in young, but bilateral in old, with old larger than young in the left hemisphere. P300 was also explained by a single factor in young adults but by two factors in older adults, including distinct parieto-occipital and anterior activation. These findings highlight the differential functional asymmetries of conflict monitoring (N200) and inhibitory evaluation and adaptation (P300) processes and further illuminate unique age-related spatio-temporal recruitment patterns. Older adults demonstrated lateralized recruitment during conflict processing and bilateral recruitment during evaluation and adaptation, with anterior recruitment common to both processes. These fine-grained analyses are critically important for more precise understanding of age-related compensatory activation.

Neurophysiology of Gambling Behavior and Internet Use Vulnerability: A Comparison Between Behavioral and EEG Measures

The present research explored electrophysiological activity (EEG) related to problematic internet use (PIU) vulnerability in a nonclinical population. Vulnerability to PIU was assessed through internet addiction test (IAT) in a sample of 23 participants. Moreover, they underwent a behavioral Iowa gambling task (IGT) for testing decision-making functioning and N2 event-related potentials (ERPs) component was monitored during an attentional inhibitory Go/NoGo task performance with addiction-related background pictures (videogames, online gambling, and neutral stimuli). IAT measure positively correlated with both IGT index and N2 variation at the Go/NoGo task. High-IAT young participants showed specific responses to internet addiction-related cues (pictures representing online gambling) in terms of ERPs amplitude of N2pc for Go trials in Pz. Findings suggested an early attentional facilitation effect for specific addiction-related stimuli, online gambling-related stimuli, suggesting a selective attention bias for salient stimuli in this population. While higher levels of IAT do not seem to correspond to a deficit in decision-making abilities, the selective attention mechanisms show to be partially biased in response to the salience of external cues.

Inhibitory control in prospective memory: An event related potential comparison of task-switch and dual task processing

This study cross-validates reported changes in behavioural and event-related potential (ERP) correlates of prospective memory (PM) inhibitory control performance applying different PM response selection demands (Bisiacchi et al., 2009). Participants were randomly assigned to a control group condition with no PM requirement, or to either inhibit ongoing task processing to respond to PM task cues (task-switch; TS) or provide an ongoing task response prior to providing a PM button press (dual-task; DT). The behavioural data indicated that ongoing task reaction time (RT) performance was similar in the DT, TS, and control group conditions. PM cue detection mechanisms reflected by the N300 did not differ between PM tasks. However, early occurring (400-700 ms) PM late parietal complex (LPC) amplitudes recorded over anterior electrode sites were larger in the TS compared to the DT-PM condition, and this difference persisted during the 700-1000 ms epoch. Thus, ERP correlates of PM task-set remapping were significantly altered via the induction of different PM response production rules retrieved from retrospective memory (RM). The enhancement of anteriorly distributed TS LPC amplitudes between 400 and 700 ms led to the suggestion that increased inhibition in this group condition was accompanied by heightened frontally mediated neural activations that support prepotent ongoing task response inhibition processing.

Distraction in the Driving Simulator: An Event-Related Potential (ERP) Study with Young, Middle-Aged, and Older Drivers

Distraction is a major causal factor of road crashes, and very young and older drivers seem to be particularly susceptible to distracting stimuli; however, the possibilities of exploring the causes for increased distractibility of these groups in real traffic seem to be limited. Experiments in a driving simulator are a good choice to eliminate the risk for crashes and to present highly standardized stimulus combinations. In the present study, 72 subjects from four age groups completed a driving task that required occasional responses to the brake lights of a car in front. In addition, in certain experimental conditions, subjects had to respond to distracting visual or auditory stimuli. In addition to behavioral data, electrophysiological correlates of stimulus processing were derived from the electroencephalogram (EEG). In the two older groups, braking response times increased even in a simple task condition when visual distraction stimuli occurred. In more complex task conditions braking response times increased with acoustic and visual distractors in the middle-aged group as well. In these complex task conditions braking error rates, especially the missing of braking reaction in favor of the distracting task, increased under visual distraction with increasing age. Associated with this, a reduced P3b component in the event-related potential indicated an unfavorable allocation of mental resources. The study demonstrates the potential of driving simulators for studying effects of distraction, but also their limitations with respect to the interpretability of the results.

Influence of Exposure at Different Altitudes on the Executive Function of Plateau Soldiers-Evidence From ERPs and Neural Oscillations

This study investigates the changes in soldiers' brain executive function at different altitude environments and their relationship with blood oxygen saturation. Stratified sampling was conducted in different altitude 133 active-duty soldiers who were stationed in Weinan (347 m, n = 34), Nyingchi (2,950 m, n = 32), Lhasa (3,860 m, n = 33), and Nagqu (4,890 m, n = 34) for 2 years. The Go/NoGo paradigm with event-related potentials (ERPs) and event-related oscillations (EROs) was used to explore the time and neural oscillation courses of response inhibition. Behavioral results revealed that at the 4,890-m altitude area, the soldiers had the highest false alarm rate, the longest reaction time, and the slowest information transmission rate. The electrophysiological results revealed that NoGo-N2 and N2d decreased with increasing altitude, with significant changes at 3,860 m; the amplitudes of NoGo-P3 and P3d in plateau groups were significantly more negative than the plain and changed significantly at 2,950 m. The results of correlation analysis showed that NoGo-P3 was negatively correlated with altitude (r = −0.358, p = 0.000), positively correlated with SpO₂ (r = 0.197, p = 0.041) and information translation rate (ITR) (r = 0.202, p = 0.036). P3d was negatively correlated with altitude (r = −0.276, p = 0.004) and positively correlated with ITR (r = 0.228, p = 0.018). N2d was negatively correlated with ITR (r = 0.204, p = 0.034). The power spectrum analysis of NoGo-N2 and NoGo-P3 showed that the power of δ and θ bands at the plateau area was significantly lower than the plain area and showed a significant step-by-step decrease; the α-band power increases significantly only in the area of 4,890 m. The effect of chronic hypoxia exposure at different altitudes of the plateau on the response inhibition of soldiers was manifested: 3,860 m was the altitude at which the brain response inhibition function decreased during the conflict monitoring stage, and 2,950 m was the altitude at which it dropped during the response inhibition stage. In addition, the soldier's brain's executive function was closely related to SpO₂, and a reduction in SpO₂ may lead to a decline in response inhibition.

Event-related brain potential indexes provide evidence for some decline in healthy people with subjective memory complaints during target evaluation and response inhibition processing

In the preclinical stage of the Alzheimer's disease (AD) continuum, subjects report subjective memory complaints (SMCs), although with the absence of any objective decline, and have a higher risk of progressing to dementia than the general population. Early identification of this stage therefore constitutes a major focus of current AD research, to enable early intervention. In this study, healthy adult participants with high and low SMCs (HSMCs and LSMCs) performed a Go/NoGo task during electroencephalogram (EEG) recording. Relative to LSMC participants, HSMC participants performed the task slower (longer reaction times) and showed changes in the event-related potential (ERP) components associated with response preparation (lower readiness potential -RP- amplitude in the Go condition), and also related to response inhibition processes (lower N2-P3 amplitude in the NoGo condition). In addition, HSMC participants showed lower Go-N2 and NoGo-N2 peak-to-baseline amplitudes, however these results seem to be influenced by a negative tendency overlapping stimulus-related waveforms. The declines observed in this study are mostly consistent with those observed in aMCI participants, supporting the notion of the AD continuum regarding SMC state.

Neural Processing of Cognitive Control in an Emotionally Neutral Context in Anxiety Patients

Impaired cognitive control plays a crucial role in anxiety disorders and is associated with deficient neural mechanisms in the fronto-parietal network. Usually, these deficits were found in tasks with an emotional context. The present study aimed at investigating electrophysiological and vascular signatures from event-related brain potentials (ERPs) and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) in anxiety patients versus healthy controls during an inhibition task integrated in an emotionally neutral context. Neural markers were acquired during the completion of a classical Eriksen flanker task. The focus of data analysis has been the ERPs N200 and P300 and fNIRS activations in addition to task performance. No behavioral or neural group differences were identified. ERP findings showed a larger N2pc and a delayed and reduced P300 for incongruent stimuli. The N2pc modulation suggests the reorienting of attention to salient stimuli, while the P300 indicates longer lasting stimulus evaluation processes due to increased task difficulty. FNIRS did not result in any significant activation potentially suggesting a contribution from deeper brain areas not measurable with fNIRS. The missing group difference in our non-emotional task indicates that no generalized cognitive control deficit but rather a more emotionally driven deficit is present in anxiety patients.

Very preterm birth and cognitive control: The mediating roles of motor skills and physical fitness

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Very preterm birth was associated with impaired response inhibition.

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Impaired behavioral performance was linked with decreased P300, but not N200.

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Motor skills fully mediated the association of preterm birth and P300.

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Cardiorespiratory fitness did not contribute to this mediation.

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Improving motor skills might promise the reduction of cognitive control deficits.

The neurophysiological mechanisms underlying executive function deficits in very preterm born children still remain unclear. Moreover, evidence on factors that can be modified by behavior and exert an influence on these deficits is lacking. The present case-control study examined the association between very preterm birth and neurophysiological indices of response inhibition (i.e. the N200-P300 complex) as well as the potential mediation of this association by aspects of physical fitness. 54 children born very preterm completed a submaximal cycling ergometer test and a motor skill test battery. Event-related potentials elicited by a Go/NoGo task were recorded using electroencephalography. Cases were then matched to full-term children (age: 11 ± 0.7 y). A higher error rate on NoGo trials was found in children born very preterm compared to those born full-term. Path-analyses further revealed that very preterm birth was associated with decreased NoGo P300 amplitude. Motor skills, but not aerobic fitness, fully mediated this association. In early adolescence, very preterm birth is associated with less effective recruitment of attentional resources for stimulus evaluation processes. The improvement of motor skills rather than cardiorespiratory fitness appears promising for reducing this specific impairment in cognitive control.

Behavioral and electrophysiological correlates of Simon and flanker conflict interference in younger and older adults

Conflict processing and interference control have been popular topics of research in the study of pathological brain aging. However, there remains much to be learned about how these cognitive processes are altered in the course of healthy brain aging. Moreover, few studies have combined multiple measures of interference control using factorial designs. The aim of this study was to determine the nature of age-related changes in behavioral and electroencephalographic correlates of interference control using a factorial combination of the Simon and flanker interference conditions. Data were collected from a group of younger and high-functioning older adults. Behavioral results indicated the presence of conflict interference effects in both groups, that both Simon and flanker conflict effects are increased in high-functioning older adults, that the two types of conflict interference interact superadditively, and that older adults are more susceptible to the superadditive costs of multiple conflict types. ERP analyses revealed that early perceptual and response-selection processes are differentially modulated by flanker and Simon conflict respectively, however, there was no evidence that these early processes were impaired in older adults. Later components of the ERP in the P3 time range mirrored behavioral results, reflecting the increased susceptibility to flanker and Simon conflict in older adults.

Action inhibition in individuals with high obsessive-compulsive trait of incompleteness: An ERP study

BACKGROUND

Missing action completion signals are assumed to trigger repetitive behavior and feelings of the action "not being right". This proposal is based mostly on individual's self-reports. Here, we investigated the influence of experimentally manipulated action completion experience and the obsessive-compulsive (OC) trait of incompleteness on behavioral and neurophysiological measures of action inhibition.

METHODS

Action completion was manipulated in an adapted Go/NoGo task, and OC trait incompleteness was assessed in healthy participants. More commission errors and faster responses were expected after missing action completion, especially for individuals with high OC trait incompleteness. The inhibition-related event-related potentials (ERPs) N200 and P300 were also measured.

RESULTS

High OC trait incompleteness led to more errors following omitted- and faster responses during commission errors following incongruent outcomes. Furthermore, lower N200 was associated with worse response inhibition, and high OC trait incompleteness was associated with reduced N200, but not reduced P300 amplitude. These findings provide evidence that trait-like feelings of incompleteness may underlie maladaptive action repetition and impaired inhibitory control as observed in OCD.

Spatiotemporal brain signal associated with high and low levels of proactive motor response inhibition

Proactive motor response inhibition is used to strategically restrain actions in preparation for stopping. In this study, we first examined the event related potential (ERP) elicited by low and high level of proactive response inhibition, as assessed by the stop-signal task. Corroborating previous studies, we found an increased amplitude of the contingent negative variation (CNV) in the high level of proactive inhibition. As the main goal of the present study, swLORETA was used to determine the neural generators characterising CNV differences between low and high levels of proactive inhibition. Results showed that the higher level of proactive inhibition involved numerous generators, including within the middle and medial frontal gyrus. Importantly, we observed that the lower level of proactive inhibition also involved a specific neural generator, within the frontopolar cortex. Altogether, present findings identified the specific brain sources of ERP signals involved in the later phase of motor preparation under low or high levels of proactive motor response inhibition.

Neurocognitive processes mediate the relation between children's motor skills, cardiorespiratory fitness and response inhibition: Evidence from source imaging

Accumulating evidence suggests an association between outcomes of sports participation, such as motor skills and cardiorespiratory fitness, and aspects of inhibitory control in children. However, it remains unclear if motor skills and cardiorespiratory fitness are related to different source activity patterns and if neurophysiological indices of response inhibition mediate the relation of these constructs with behavioral performance. We examined the relative contributions of motor skills and cardiorespiratory fitness to response inhibition and a potential mediation by the neurocognitive processes indexed by the N200 and P300 components of event-related potentials. About 92 children aged 9-13 years completed the Movement ABC-2, the PWC170 and a Go/NoGo task. We employed electroencephalography (EEG) to record the N200 and P300 components elicited by the task, which are considered to reflect conflict monitoring and the allocation of attentional resources toward task-relevant stimuli, respectively. Path-anlayses revealed a moderate association between motor skills and behavioral performance on the Go/NoGo task. This association was fully mediated by the P300 amplitude in the NoGo condition. In contrast, cardiorespiratory fitness was not related to behavioral performance, but accounted for variance in N200. Source analyses supported an association between cardiorespiratory fitness and N200 source activity in prefrontal and primary motor cortex, whereas motor skills were related to P300 source activity in the posterior cingulate cortex. Our findings provide novel insights into the neural mechanisms underlying the relation between motor skills and response inhibition. Moreover, we found that the neural generators of the P300 and N200 varied as a function of children's cardiorespiratory fitness and motor skills.