Control of response interference: caudate nucleus contributes to selective inhibition

Neural underpinnings of ethical decisions in life and death dilemmas in naïve and expert firefighters

When a single choice impacts on life outcomes, faculties to make ethical judgments come into play. Here we studied decisions in a real-life setting involving life-and-death outcomes that affect others and the decision-maker as well. We chose a genuine situation where prior training and expertise play a role: firefighting in life-threatening situations. By studying the neural correlates of dilemmas involving life-saving decisions, using realistic firefighting situations, allowed us to go beyond previously used hypothetical dilemmas, while addressing the role of expertise and the use of coping strategies (n = 47). We asked the question whether the neural underpinnings of deontologically based decisions are affected by expertise. These realistic life-saving dilemmas activate the same core reward and affective processing network, in particular the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, nucleus accumbens and amygdala, irrespective of prior expertise, thereby supporting general domain theories of ethical decision-making. We found that brain activity in the hippocampus and insula parametrically increased as the risk increased. Connectivity analysis showed a larger directed influence of the insula on circuits related to action selection in non-experts, which were slower than experts in non rescuing decisions. Relative neural activity related to the decision to rescue or not, in the caudate nucleus, insula and anterior cingulate cortex was negatively associated with coping strategies, in experts (firefighters) suggesting practice-based learning. This shows an association between activity and expert-related usage of coping strategies. Expertise enables salience network activation as a function of behavioural coping dimensions, with a distinct connectivity profile when facing life-rescuing dilemmas.

Encoding-related Brain Activity Predicts Subsequent Trial-level Control of Proactive Interference in Working Memory

Proactive interference (PI) appears when familiar information interferes with newly acquired information and is a major cause of forgetting in working memory. It has been proposed that encoding of item-context associations might help mitigate familiarity-based PI. Here, we investigate whether encoding-related brain activation could predict subsequent level of PI at retrieval using trial-specific parametric modulation. Participants were scanned with event-related fMRI while performing a 2-back working memory task with embedded 3-back lures designed to induce PI. We found that the ability to control interference in working memory was modulated by level of activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus, left hippocampus, and bilateral caudate nucleus during encoding. These results provide insight to the processes underlying control of PI in working memory and suggest that encoding of temporal context details support subsequent interference control.

Success versus failure in cognitive control: Meta-analytic evidence from neuroimaging studies on error processing

Brain mechanisms of error processing have often been investigated using response interference tasks and focusing on the posterior medial frontal cortex, which is also implicated in resolving response conflict in general. Thereby, the role other brain regions may play has remained undervalued. Here, activation likelihood estimation meta-analyses were used to synthesize the neuroimaging literature on brain activity related to committing errors versus responding successfully in interference tasks and to test for commonalities and differences. The salience network and the temporoparietal junction were commonly recruited irrespective of whether responses were correct or incorrect, pointing towards a general involvement in coping with situations that call for increased cognitive control. The dorsal posterior cingulate cortex, posterior thalamus, and left superior frontal gyrus showed error-specific convergence, which underscores their consistent involvement when performance goals are not met. In contrast, successful responding revealed stronger convergence in the dorsal attention network and lateral prefrontal regions. Underrecruiting these regions in error trials may reflect failures in activating the task-appropriate stimulus-response contingencies necessary for successful response execution.

A Multilevel Examination of Cognitive Control in Adolescents With Nonsuicidal Self-injury

Background

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), a transdiagnostic behavior, often emerges during adolescence. This study used the Research Domain Criteria approach to examine cognitive control (CC) with a focus on response inhibition and urgency relative to NSSI severity in adolescents.

Methods

One hundred thirty-eight adolescents, assigned female sex at birth, with a continuum of NSSI severity completed negative and positive urgency measurements (self-report), an emotional Go/NoGo task within negative and positive contexts (behavioral), and structural and functional imaging during resting state and task (brain metrics). Cortical thickness, subcortical volume, resting-state functional connectivity, and task activation focused on an a priori-defined CC network. Eighty-four participants had all these main measures. Correlations and stepwise model selection followed by multiple regression were used to examine the association between NSSI severity and multiunit CC measurements.

Results

Higher NSSI severity correlated with higher negative urgency and lower accuracy during positive no-inhibition (Go). Brain NSSI severity correlates varied across modalities and valence. For right medial prefrontal cortex and right caudate, higher NSSI severity correlated with greater negative but lower positive inhibition (NoGo) activation. The opposite pattern was observed for the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Higher NSSI severity correlated with lower left dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) negative inhibition activation and thicker left dorsal ACC, yet it was correlated with higher right rostral ACC positive inhibition activation and thinner right rostral ACC, as well as lower CC network resting-state functional connectivity.

Conclusions

Findings revealed multifaceted signatures of NSSI severity across CC units of analysis, confirming the relevance of this domain in adolescent NSSI and illustrating how multimodal approaches can shed light on psychopathology.

Mechanisms and neuroanatomy of response selection in tool and non-tool action tasks: Evidence from left-hemisphere stroke

The ability to select between potential actions is central to the complex process of tool use. After left hemisphere stroke, individuals with limb apraxia make more hand action errors when gesturing the use of tools with conflicting hand actions for grasping-to-move and use (e.g., screwdriver) relative to tools that are grasped-to-move and used with the same hand action (e.g., hammer). Prior research indicates that this grasp-use interference effect is driven by abnormalities in the competitive action selection process. The goal of this project was to determine whether common mechanisms and neural substrates support the competitive selection of task-appropriate responses in both tool and non-tool domains. If so, the grasp-use interference effect in a tool use gesturing task should be correlated with response interference effects in the classic Eriksen flanker and Simon tasks, and at least partly overlapping neural regions should subserve the 3 tasks. Sixty-four left hemisphere stroke survivors (33 with apraxia) participated in the tool- and non-tool interference tasks and underwent T1 anatomical MRI. There were robust grasp-use interference effects (grasp-use conflict test) and response interference effects (Eriksen flanker and Simon tasks), but these effects were not correlated. Lesion-symptom mapping analyses showed that lesions to the left inferior parietal lobule, ventral premotor cortex, and insula were associated with grasp-use interference. Lesions to the left inferior parietal lobule, postcentral gyrus, insula, caudate, and putamen were associated with response interference in the Eriksen flanker task. Lesions to the left caudate and putamen were also associated with response interference in the Simon task. Our results suggest that the selection of hand posture for tool use is mediated by distinct cognitive mechanisms and partly distinct neuroanatomic substrates from those mapping a stimulus to an appropriate motor response in non-tool domains.

Association of Circumscribed Subcortical Gray and White Matter Lesions With Apraxic Deficits in Patients With Left Hemisphere Stroke

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Apraxia is commonly attributed to left hemisphere (LH) lesions of the cortical fronto-temporo-parietal praxis networks or white matter lesions causing disconnections between cortical nodes. By contrast, the contribution of lesions to the subcortical gray matter, that is, basal ganglia or thalamus, to apraxic deficits remains controversial. Here, we investigate whether damage to these subcortical gray matter structures (i.e., caudate nucleus, putamen, globus pallidus, and thalamus) or the adjacent white matter tracts was associated with apraxic deficits.

METHODS

We identified patients with distinct subcortical lesions with and without apraxia from a large retrospective sample of subacute LH ischemic stroke patients (n = 194). To test which subcortical structures (caudate nucleus, putamen, globus pallidus, thalamus, and adjacent white matter tracts), when lesioned, contributed to apraxic deficits, we statistically compared the proportion of lesioned voxels within subcortical gray and white matter structures between the apraxic and nonapraxic patients.

RESULTS

Of the 194 stroke patients screened, 39 (median age = 65 years, range 30-82 years; median time poststroke at the apraxia assessment = 7 days, range 1-44 days) had lesions confined to subcortical regions (gray and white matter). Eleven patients showed apraxic deficits when imitating gestures or pantomiming object use. Region-wise statistical lesion comparison (controlled for lesion size) revealed a more significant proportion of damage ('lesion load') in the caudate nucleus in apraxic stroke patients (mean difference = 6.9%, 95% CI 0.4-13.3, p = 0.038, η p 2 = 0.11). By contrast, apraxic patients had lower lesion load in the globus pallidus (mean difference = 9.9%, 95% CI 0.1-19.8, p = 0.048, η p 2 = 0.10), whereas the lesion load in other subcortical structures (putamen, thalamus, and adjacent white matter tracts) did not differ significantly between the apraxic and nonapraxic patients.

DISCUSSION

These findings provide new insights into the subcortical anatomy of apraxia after LH stroke, suggesting a specific contribution of caudate nucleus lesions to apraxic deficits.

Functional activity of the caudate mediates the relation between early childhood microstructural variations and elevated metabolic syndrome scores

BACKGROUND

Metabolic syndrome score in children assesses the risk of developing cardiovascular disease in future. We aim to probe the role of the caudate in relation to the metabolic syndrome score. Furthermore, using both functional and structural neuroimaging, we aim to examine the interplay between functional and structural measures.

METHODS

A longitudinal birth cohort study with functional and structural neuroimaging data obtained at 4.5, 6.0 and 7.5 years and metabolic syndrome scores at 8.0 years was used. Pearson correlation and linear regression was used to test for correlation fractional anisotropy (FA) and fractional amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (fALFF) of the caudate with metabolic syndrome scores. Mediation analysis was used to test if later brain measures mediated the relation between earlier brain measures and metabolic syndrome scores. Inhibitory control was also tested as a mediator of the relation between caudate brain measures and metabolic syndrome scores.

RESULTS

FA at 4.5 years and fALFF at 7.5 years of the left caudate was significantly correlated with metabolic syndrome scores. Post-hoc mediation analysis showed that fALFF at 7.5 years fully mediated the relation between FA at 4.5 years and metabolic syndrome scores. Inhibitory control was significantly correlated with fALFF at 7.5 years, but did not mediate the relation between fALFF at 7.5 years and metabolic syndrome scores.

CONCLUSIONS

We found that variations in caudate microstructure at 4.5 years predict later variation in functional activity at 7.5 years. This later variation in functional activity fully mediates the relation between microstructural changes in early childhood and metabolic syndrome scores at 8.0 years.

Prefrontal Cortex Hemodynamics and Functional Connectivity Changes during Performance Working Memory Tasks in Older Adults with Sleep Disorders

Objective: Older adults with sleep disorders (SDs) show impaired working memory abilities, and working memory processes are closely related to the prefrontal cortex (PFC). However, the neural mechanism of working memory impairment in older adults with SD remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate changes in PFC function among older adults with SD when carrying out the N-back task by functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Method: A total of 37 older adults with SDs were enrolled in this study and matched with 37 healthy older adults by gender, age, and years of education. Changes in PFC function were observed by fNIRS when carrying out the N-back task. Results: The accuracy on the 0-back and 2-back tasks in the SD group was significantly lower than that in the healthy controls (HC) group. The oxygenated hemoglobin (oxy-Hb) concentration of channel 8 which located in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) was significantly reduced in the SD group during the 2-back task, and the channel-to-channel connectivity between the PFC subregions was significantly decreased. Conclusions: These results suggest that patients with sleep disorders have a weak performance of working memory; indeed, the activation and functional connectivity in the prefrontal subregions were reduced in this study. This may provide new evidence for working memory impairment and brain function changes in elderly SDs.

Word-centred neglect dyslexia as an inhibitional deficit: A single case study

Word-centred neglect dyslexia is most commonly characterised as consequence of visuospatial neglect rather than an independent condition. However, recent research has suggested that this deficit may be dissociable from spatial attentional biases. This study aims to provide preliminary evidence investigating alternative mechanisms which could account for cases of word-centred neglect dyslexia which cannot be explained by visuospatial neglect. Patient EF is a chronic stroke survivor who presented with clear right-lateralised word-centred neglect dyslexia in conjunction with severe left egocentric neglect and left hemianopia following a right PCA stroke. The severity of EF's neglect dyslexia was not found to be affected by factors which modulate the severity of visuospatial neglect. EF demonstrated an intact ability to identify all letters in words, but reliably committed neglect dyslexia errors when subsequently reading the same words as a whole. EF did not exhibit neglect dyslexic impairment in standardised spelling, word-meaning matching, and word-picture matching tasks. Critically, EF exhibited marked cognitive inhibition impairment and committed neglect dyslexia errors which were characterised by misreading less familiar target words as more familiar responses. This behavioural pattern cannot be clearly accounted for by theories which characterize word-centred neglect dyslexia as a consequence of neglect. Instead, this data suggests that this case of word-centred neglect dyslexia may be related to a deficit of cognitive inhibition. Overall, these novel findings call for reevaluation of the dominant model of word-centred neglect dyslexia.

Investigating Intra-Individual Networks of Response Inhibition and Interference Resolution using 7T MRI

Response inhibition and interference resolution are often considered subcomponents of an overarching inhibition system that utilizes the so-called cortico-basal-ganglia loop. Up until now, most previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) literature has compared the two using between-subject designs, pooling data in the form of a meta-analysis or comparing different groups. Here, we investigate the overlap of activation patterns underlying response inhibition and interference resolution on a within-subject level, using ultra-high field MRI. In this model-based study, we furthered the functional analysis with cognitive modelling techniques to provide a more in-depth understanding of behaviour. We applied the stop-signal task and multi-source interference task to measure response inhibition and interference resolution, respectively. Our results lead us to conclude that these constructs are rooted in anatomically distinct brain areas and provide little evidence for spatial overlap. Across the two tasks, common BOLD responses were observed in the inferior frontal gyrus and anterior insula. Interference resolution relied more heavily on subcortical components, specifically nodes of the commonly referred to indirect and hyperdirect pathways, as well as the anterior cingulate cortex, and pre-supplementary motor area. Our data indicated that orbitofrontal cortex activation is specific to response inhibition. Our model-based approach provided evidence for the dissimilarity in behavioural dynamics between the two tasks. The current work exemplifies the importance of reducing inter-individual variance when comparing network patterns and the value of UHF-MRI for high resolution functional mapping.

Do after "not to do": Deinhibition in cognitive control

In daily life, we often need to inhibit a certain behavior or thought; however, sometimes we need to remove inhibition (deinhibition). Numerous studies have examined inhibition control, but it is unclear how deinhibition functions. In Experiment 1, we adopted a modified stop-signal task in which participants were instructed to immediately stop the prepared response to a stimulus appended by an accidental signal. The results showed that when the preceding trial was a stop-signal trial and participants successfully inhibited the action to the stimulus, the reaction time (RT) for the repeated stimuli in the current trial was significantly longer than that of the switched stimuli, reflecting the cost of deinhibition. Deinhibition ability is correlated with inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility. In Experiment 2, we manipulated stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) between presentation of the stimuli and the stopping signals to exclude the interference of the signal preparation effect on the deinhibition cost. These findings suggest that an individual's deinhibition ability, as a previously ignored subcomponent of cognitive control, may play an important role in human adaptive behavior.

Neural substrates of continuous and discrete inhibitory control

Inhibitory control dysfunctions play an important role in psychiatric disorders but the precise nature of these dysfunctions is still not well understood. Advances in computational modeling of real-time motor control using a proportion-integral-derivative (PID) control framework have parsed continuous motor inhibition into a preemptive drive component (signified by the K_p parameter) and a reactive damping component (signified by the K_d parameter). This investigation examined the relationship between inhibitory control processing during a stop signal task and continuous motor control during a simulated one-dimensional driving task in a transdiagnostic sample of participants. A transdiagnostic psychiatric sample of 492 individuals completed a stop signal task during functional magnetic resonance imaging and a simple behavioral motor control task, which was modeled using the PID framework. We examined associations between the K_p and K_d parameters and behavioral indices as well as neural activation on the stop signal task. Individuals with higher damping, controlling for a drive, on the driving task exhibited relatively less strategic adjustment after a stop trial (indexed by the difference in go trial reaction time and by stop trial accuracy) on the stop signal task. Individuals with higher damping, controlling for a drive, additionally exhibited increased activity in the frontal and parietal regions as well as the insula and caudate during response inhibition on the stop signal task. The results suggest that computational indices of motor control performance may serve as behavioral markers of the functioning of neural systems involved in inhibitory control.

Atrophy in subcortical gray matter in adult patients with moyamoya disease

BACKGROUND

Acute cerebrovascular accidents, long-term hypoperfusion, and/or remote neuronal degeneration may lead to structural alterations in patients with moyamoya disease (MMD). This study sought to comprehensively investigate the distribution characteristics of subcortical gray matter volume and their correlations with angiographic changes in the intracranial artery in patients with MMD.

METHOD

One hundred forty-two patients with MMD and 142 age- and sex-matched healthy controls underwent 3-dimensional high-resolution structural magnetic resonance imaging. Volumes of subcortical gray matter and subregions of the hippocampus and amygdala were calculated, and the degree of stenosis/occlusion of intracranial arteries in patients with MMD was evaluated on MR angiography.

RESULTS

Volume reductions in the thalamus, caudate, putamen, hippocampus, amygdala, pallidum, and nucleus accumbens were found in patients with MMD. Hippocampal subfields and amygdala subnuclei in patients with MMD showed distinct vulnerability, and morphological alterations in specific subregions were more obvious than in the whole hippocampus/amygdala. Volume loss in several subcortical areas was related to disease duration and intracranial arterial changes.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings revealed structural alteration patterns of subcortical gray matter in MMD. The specific atrophy in subregions of the hippocampus and the amygdala suggested potential cognitive and affective impairments in MMD, which warrants further investigation. Chronic cerebral hemodynamic alterations in MMD may play a pivotal role in morphological changes in subcortical areas.

Psychopathic tendency in violent offenders is associated with reduced aversive Pavlovian inhibition of behavior and associated striatal BOLD signal

Background

Violent offenders with psychopathic tendencies are characterized by instrumental, i.e., planned, callous, and unemotional (aggressive) behavior and have been shown to exhibit abnormal aversive processing. However, the consequences of abnormal aversive processing for instrumental action and associated neural mechanisms are unclear.

Materials and methods

Here we address this issue by using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 15 violent offenders with high psychopathic tendencies and 18 matched controls during the performance of an aversive Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer paradigm. This paradigm allowed us to assess the degree to which aversive Pavlovian cues affect instrumental action and associated neural signaling.

Results

Psychopathic tendency scores were associated with an attenuation of aversive Pavlovian inhibition of instrumental action. Moreover, exploratory analyses revealed an anomalous positive association between aversive inhibition of action and aversive inhibition of BOLD signal in the caudate nucleus of violent offenders with psychopathic tendencies. In addition, psychopathic tendency also correlated positively with amygdala reactivity during aversive versus neutral cues in Pavlovian training.

Conclusion

These findings strengthen the hypothesis that psychopathic tendencies in violent offenders are related to abnormal impact of aversive processing on instrumental behavior. The neural effects raise the possibility that this reflects deficient transfer of aversive Pavlovian inhibitory biases onto neural systems that implement instrumental action, including the caudate nucleus.

The dorsal premotor cortex encodes the step-by-step planning processes for goal-directed motor behavior in humans

The dorsal premotor cortex (PMd) plays an essential role in visually guided goal-directed motor behavior. Although there are several planning processes for achieving goal-directed behavior, the separate neural processes are largely unknown. Here, we created a new visuo-goal task to investigate the step-by-step planning processes for visuomotor and visuo-goal behavior in humans. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we found activation in different portions of the bilateral PMd during each processing step. In particular, the activated area for rule-based visuomotor and visuo-goal mapping was located at the ventrorostral portion of the bilateral PMd, that for action plan specification was at the dorsocaudal portion of the left PMd, that for transformation was at the rostral portion of the left PMd, and that for action preparation was at the caudal portion of the bilateral PMd. Thus, the left PMd was involved throughout all of the processes, but the right PMd was involved only in rule-based visuomotor and visuo-goal mapping and action preparation. The locations related to each process were generally spatially separated from each other, but they overlapped partially. These findings revealed that there are functional subregions in the bilateral PMd in humans and these subregions form a functional gradient to achieve goal-directed behavior.

Cortical and subcortical contributions to interference resolution and inhibition - An fMRI ALE meta-analysis

Interacting with our environment requires the selection of appropriate responses and the inhibition of others. Such effortful inhibition is achieved by a number of interference resolution and global inhibition processes. This meta-analysis including 57 studies and 73 contrasts revisits the overlap and differences in brain areas supporting interference resolution and global inhibition in cortical and subcortical brain areas. Activation likelihood estimation was used to discern the brain regions subserving each type of cognitive control. Individual contrast analysis revealed a common activation of the bilateral insula and supplementary motor areas. Subtraction analyses demonstrated the voxel-wise differences in recruitment in a number of areas including the precuneus in the interference tasks and the frontal pole and dorsal striatum in the inhibition tasks. Our results display a surprising lack of subcortical involvement within these types of cognitive control, a finding that is likely to reflect a systematic gap in the field of functional neuroimaging.