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Chen Y, Cheng W, Deng X, Yang Y, Li Z, Zhong J, Li W, Cheng B. The influence of task-irrelevant color perception on flanker task performance: Insights from behavioral and ERP data. Physiol Behav 2024; 285:114654. [PMID: 39111643 DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2024.114654] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2024] [Revised: 07/31/2024] [Accepted: 08/01/2024] [Indexed: 08/16/2024]
Abstract
Perception of color as a task-relevant stimulus can affect cognition and behavior in the flanker task; however, it remains unclear whether it has the same impact when it is a task-irrelevant stimulus dimension. To this end, we applied four-letter flanker tasks with or without colored (red/blue) to 23 healthy young adults, while recording the event-related potentials (ERPs) and behavioral performance. The flanker task included four kinds of color types: non-color letter (NC), all color letter (AC), flanker color letter (FC), and target color letter (TC), each flanker task included congruent and incongruent conditions. The behavioral data demonstrated the classic conflict effect across all color types of flanker tasks in both reaction times (RTs) and accuracy, the significant interaction and main effect of color type factors were only observed in accuracy. The ERP results showed significant interaction between conflict factor (congruent, incongruent) and color type (NC, AC, FC, and TC), and the color type factor enhanced the fronto-central P2 (180-200 ms), descended the fronto-centro-parietal N2b (260-320 ms), and increased the fronto-central P3b (360-520 ms). The fronto-central P2 and the fronto-central P3b were larger for TC than NC, AC, and FC in the congruent condition, while the fronto-central P3b was smaller for NC than AC, FC, and TC in the incongruent condition. Furthermore, the fronto-centro-parietal N2b was decreased successively in NC, AC, FC, and TC in both congruent and incongruent conditions. Overall, our findings suggested that the task-irrelevant stimuli dimension of color can capture some attentional resources and is affected by the location of color (target/flanker) and the type of task trial (congruent/incongruent) in the flanker task.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ying Chen
- Department of Ideological and Political Theory Teaching, Maoming Polytechnic, Maoming, Guangdong, 525000, China; School of education, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510000, China
| | - Wenwen Cheng
- Department of Neurology, Maoming People's Hospital, Maoming, Guangdong, 525000, China.
| | - Xiaoqing Deng
- Department of clinical nutrition, Maoming People's Hospital, Maoming, Guangdong, 525000, China
| | - Yan Yang
- Department of clinical nutrition, Maoming People's Hospital, Maoming, Guangdong, 525000, China
| | - Zhantao Li
- Department of Neurology, Maoming People's Hospital, Maoming, Guangdong, 525000, China
| | - Junhua Zhong
- Department of Cardiology, the First Clinical Medical college of Guangdong Medical University, Zhanjiang, Guangdong, 524000, China
| | - Weijie Li
- Department of Rehabilitation, Maoming People's Hospital, Maoming, Guangdong, 525000, China
| | - Bin Cheng
- Department of Orthopedic, The 92962 Military Hospital of CPLA, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510000, China
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2
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Perceptual confusion makes a significant contribution to the conflict effect: Insight from the flanker task and the majority function task. CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY 2023. [DOI: 10.1007/s12144-023-04318-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/19/2023]
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3
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Rabi R, Chow R, Paracha S, Hasher L, Gardner S, Anderson ND, Alain C. The Effects of Aging and Time of Day on Inhibitory Control: An Event-Related Potential Study. Front Aging Neurosci 2022; 14:821043. [PMID: 35360220 PMCID: PMC8963784 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2022.821043] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2021] [Accepted: 02/17/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Time of day (TOD) influences on executive functions have been widely reported, with greater efficiency demonstrated at optimal relative to non-optimal TOD according to one's chronotype (i.e., synchrony effect). Older adults (OAs) show declines in inhibitory control and are more sensitive to the effects of circadian variation on executive functioning. To date, no studies have investigated the effects of TOD and aging on executive functioning using electrophysiological measures. The present study investigated the effects of aging and TOD on the neural correlates of inhibitory processing (N2 and P3) using event-related potentials (ERPs). Go-NoGo and Flanker tasks were administered to 52 OAs of morning chronotype and 51 younger adults (YAs) of afternoon-to-evening chronotype who were randomly assigned to morning or afternoon test sessions, with the optimal TOD for OAs in the morning and for YAs in the afternoon/evening. While behavioral results demonstrated no TOD effects, ERPs indicated synchrony effects. Both YAs and OAs showed greater modulation of Go-NoGo N2 and greater P3 amplitude during the non-optimal than optimal TOD, consistent with the synchrony effect. For the Flanker task, age differences in P3 amplitude were only apparent during the non-optimal TOD. These results suggest that processes associated with inhibitory control are differentially affected by TOD and aging, with age-related reductions in inhibitory efficiency during off-peak test times on measures of interference control. These findings highlight the sensitivity of ERPs to detect TOD effects in the absence of behavioral differences, confirm more pronounced TOD effects in OAs relative to YAs on ERP measures of interference control, and reinforce the need to assess and control for circadian typology in research studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rahel Rabi
- Baycrest Centre, Rotman Research Institute, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Ricky Chow
- Baycrest Centre, Rotman Research Institute, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Shahier Paracha
- Baycrest Centre, Rotman Research Institute, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Lynn Hasher
- Baycrest Centre, Rotman Research Institute, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Sandra Gardner
- Baycrest Centre, Rotman Research Institute, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Biostatistics Division, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Nicole D. Anderson
- Baycrest Centre, Rotman Research Institute, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Claude Alain
- Baycrest Centre, Rotman Research Institute, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
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4
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Chung-Fat-Yim A, Poarch GJ, Comishen KJ, Bialystok E. Does language context impact the neural correlates of executive control in monolingual and multilingual young adults? BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2021; 222:105011. [PMID: 34455164 PMCID: PMC8579775 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2021.105011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2021] [Revised: 06/30/2021] [Accepted: 08/15/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Some previous studies have shown that creating a language context in which words from both languages are interspersed into a flanker task improves executive control performance for bilinguals, but these studies have produced inconsistent results. The studies have used different versions of the task and not included monolinguals, limiting generalization. Here, English-Chinese multilinguals and English monolinguals performed a flanker task while EEG was recorded. There were three language context blocks - English, Chinese, or both - and participants were instructed to ignore the interspersed words. Multilinguals displayed faster flanker RTs and earlier P2 and N2 waveforms than monolinguals. There was also a significant correlation between the P2/N2 latency and reaction times, connecting these waveforms to behavior. Finally, P2 amplitude differed between groups in the mixed context, and language context impacted P3 amplitude for monolinguals but not multilinguals. These results are interpreted in terms of language context effects on monolingual executive function processing and possible difference in bilingual experience between current participants and those in previous studies.
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5
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Overhoff H, Ko YH, Feuerriegel D, Fink GR, Stahl J, Weiss PH, Bode S, Niessen E. Neural correlates of metacognition across the adult lifespan. Neurobiol Aging 2021; 108:34-46. [PMID: 34487950 DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2021.08.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2021] [Revised: 07/14/2021] [Accepted: 08/01/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Metacognitive accuracy describes the degree of overlap between the subjective perception of one's decision accuracy (i.e. confidence) and objectively observed performance. With older age, the need for accurate metacognitive evaluation increases; however, error detection rates typically decrease. We investigated the effect of ageing on metacognitive accuracy using event-related potentials (ERPs) reflecting error detection and confidence: the error/correct negativity (Ne/c) and the error/correct positivity (Pe/c). Sixty-five healthy adults (20 to 76 years) completed a complex Flanker task and provided confidence ratings. We found that metacognitive accuracy declined with age beyond the expected decline in task performance, while the adaptive adjustment of behaviour was well preserved. Pe amplitudes following errors varied by confidence rating, but they did not mirror the reduction in metacognitive accuracy. Ne amplitudes decreased with age for low confidence errors. The results suggest that age-related difficulties in metacognitive evaluation could be related to an impaired integration of decision accuracy and confidence information processing. Ultimately, training the metacognitive evaluation of fundamental decisions in older adults might constitute a promising endeavour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Helen Overhoff
- Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-3), Research Center Jülich, Jülich, Germany; Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; Department of Individual Differences and Psychological Assessment, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
| | - Yiu Hong Ko
- Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-3), Research Center Jülich, Jülich, Germany; Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; Department of Individual Differences and Psychological Assessment, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Daniel Feuerriegel
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Gereon R Fink
- Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-3), Research Center Jülich, Jülich, Germany; Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Jutta Stahl
- Department of Individual Differences and Psychological Assessment, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Peter H Weiss
- Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-3), Research Center Jülich, Jülich, Germany; Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Stefan Bode
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Eva Niessen
- Department of Individual Differences and Psychological Assessment, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
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6
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Fong MCM, Law TST, Ma MKH, Hui NY, Wang WS. Can inhibition deficit hypothesis account for age-related differences in semantic fluency? Converging evidence from Stroop color and word test and an ERP flanker task. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2021; 218:104952. [PMID: 33934024 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2021.104952] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2020] [Revised: 02/14/2021] [Accepted: 04/01/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
The inhibition deficit hypothesis (IDH) proposed that individual differences in inhibitory control is an underlying reason for age-related language decline. This study examined whether the hypothesis holds within the domain of lexico-semantic retrieval. Sixty-six older adults aged 60-79 were tested in a semantic fluency task comprising 16 categories; each response was classified as automatic or controlled. Also, Stroop color and word test and an ERP flanker task were employed to yield both behavioral and neural measures of inhibitory control. Mixed-effects modelling revealed that the number of controlled (but not automatic) responses was negatively associated with age. This interaction could be partially accounted for by the behavioral Stroop inhibition score and two neural measures from the ERP flanker task (P2 and Pc amplitudes). These results not only provide converging evidence supporting the IDH, but also demonstrate the involvement of specific inhibitory control components, including attentional control and performance monitoring.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manson Cheuk-Man Fong
- Research Centre for Language, Cognition, and Neuroscience, Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong.
| | - Tammy Sheung-Ting Law
- Research Centre for Language, Cognition, and Neuroscience, Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
| | - Matthew King-Hang Ma
- Department of Electronic Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
| | - Nga Yan Hui
- Research Centre for Language, Cognition, and Neuroscience, Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
| | - William Shiyuan Wang
- Research Centre for Language, Cognition, and Neuroscience, Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong; Department of Electronic Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
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7
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Scrivano RM, Kieffaber PD. Behavioral and electrophysiological correlates of Simon and flanker conflict interference in younger and older adults. AGING NEUROPSYCHOLOGY AND COGNITION 2021; 29:318-348. [PMID: 33472533 DOI: 10.1080/13825585.2021.1874278] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
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.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachel M Scrivano
- The College of Social Work, the Ohio State University, Columbus, United States
| | - Paul D Kieffaber
- Department of Psychological Sciences, College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, United States
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8
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Cheng W, Huang Q, Chen Y, Dai W, Cui L, Shan S, Chen Z, Zhou S. Parsing the Neural Mechanisms of Short-Term and Long-Term Associations in the Flanker Tasks: An ERP Analysis. Front Behav Neurosci 2021; 15:626907. [PMID: 34421550 PMCID: PMC8374427 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2021.626907] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2020] [Accepted: 07/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The neural mechanisms of cognitive conflicts within various flanker tasks are still unclear, which may be mixed with different effects of short-term associations and long-term associations. We applied a perceptual (color) flanker task and a symbolic (arrow) flanker task to 25 healthy young adults, while the event-related potentials (ERP) and behavioral performance were recorded. The former contains stimulus-stimulus conflict (SSC) of short-term memory (STM) associations, and the latter contains stimulus-response conflict (SRC) of long-term memory (LTM) associations. Both flanker tasks included congruent and incongruent conditions. The reaction time demonstrated the stimulus-response conflict effect in the arrow flanker task without the stimulus-stimulus conflict effect in the color flanker task. The ERP results showed SSC enhanced the frontocentral N2b without behavioral effects. SRC increased the frontocentral P2 but decreased the centroparietal P3b with prolonged reaction time. In the comparison between both tasks, the color flanker task elicited both the centroparietal N2b/N300 and the frontocentral N400, and the arrow flanker task increased the occipital N1. Our findings provide new evidence that different neural mechanisms underlie conflict effects based on different types of memory associations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenwen Cheng
- Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou, China
- Department of Neurology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Qiao Huang
- Department of Rehabilitation, Guangzhou Red-Cross Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Ying Chen
- Department of Ideological and Political Theory Teaching, Maoming Polytechnic, Maoming, China
| | - Weipeng Dai
- Department of Neurology, Jiangmen Central Hospital, Jiangmen, China
| | - Liyan Cui
- Department of Rehabilitation, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Sharui Shan
- Department of Rehabilitation, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Zhuoming Chen
- Department of Rehabilitation, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou, China
- *Correspondence: Zhuoming Chen
| | - Shu Zhou
- Department of Neurology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
- Shu Zhou
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9
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Can irrelevant but salient visual cues compensate for the age-related decline in cognitive conflict resolution?-An ERP study. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0233496. [PMID: 32433679 PMCID: PMC7239486 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0233496] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2019] [Accepted: 05/06/2020] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
We studied a Posner-type gaze-cued version of a Simon task to characterize age-related changes in visuospatial attention and inhibitory control. Earlier results had indicated that the direction of gaze is a strong social cue that speeds response times; so we wondered whether, as a task-irrelevant stimulus, it could compensate for age-related impairment of inhibitory processes in the elderly. Our results assessed the Simon effect by: reaction time, error rate, the P3 component and the lateralized readiness potential (LRP). We found that the Simon effect was larger in the older group confirming an increased sensitivity to interference and also suggesting a decreased inhibitory control in older adults. LRP results showed that aging and stimulus-response incongruency delayed the selection of the responses–indexed by longer s-LRP latency data–, and also decreased the efficiency of motor inhibition in the Simon task–the s-LRP amplitude of both wrong- and correct-side activation was larger in older adults, and the latency difference of these two components was longer in this age-group. Also a larger N2pc amplitude in the congruent, compared to incongruent gaze condition, showed an increased visuospatial attention when the gaze-cueing drew attention to the target stimulus. This gaze-cueing could not be ignored and hence it modified task processing in the older age group, which was evident in the incongruent Simon condition where the congruent gaze increased older adults’ reaction time and their error rate; but there was no difference observed in the congruent Simon condition. Since the anticipated facilitation of reaction times did not occur, we suggest that general slowing and decreased inhibitory functions in the elderly caused the social cue not to be a supporting stimulus but rather to be a further burden on their cognitive processing.
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10
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Flanker paradigm contains conflict and distraction factors with distinct neural mechanisms: an ERP analysis in a 2-1 mapping task. Cogn Neurodyn 2019; 13:341-356. [PMID: 31354880 DOI: 10.1007/s11571-019-09529-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2018] [Revised: 02/25/2019] [Accepted: 03/18/2019] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Behavioral studies using the flanker 2-1 mapping task suggest that both stimulus and response conflicts contribute to flanker conflict effect. However, both are intertwined with distraction effect. Their underlying neural mechanisms remain unclear. We applied a perceptual flanker 2-1 mapping task to 24 healthy young adults, while the event-related potentials were recorded. The task included stimulus-incongruent (SI), response-incongruent (RI), congruent (CO) and neutral (NE) stimuli. Our reaction time data demonstrated conflict effect, distraction effect and their interaction. Furthermore, the conflict factor successively enhanced the frontal P2 (160-240 ms), the posterior N2pc (200-240 ms), the fronto-central and the right frontal N2b (240-420 ms), and the posterior N2c (320-420 ms). Only the frontal P2 was larger for RI than SI. The distraction factor increased the right N2pc and reduced the left parietal P3b (460-480 ms). Overall, our findings suggested that the flanker conflict involved an early attentional processing of task-relevant and distractive information, and a later processing of conflict evaluation and response inhibition.
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11
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Zinchenko A, Kanske P, Obermeier C, Schröger E, Villringer A, Kotz SA. Modulation of Cognitive and Emotional Control in Age-Related Mild-to-Moderate Hearing Loss. Front Neurol 2018; 9:783. [PMID: 30283398 PMCID: PMC6156531 DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2018.00783] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2018] [Accepted: 08/30/2018] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Progressive hearing loss is a common phenomenon in healthy aging and may affect the perception of emotions expressed in speech. Elderly with mild to moderate hearing loss often rate emotional expressions as less emotional and display reduced activity in emotion-sensitive brain areas (e.g., amygdala). However, it is not clear how hearing loss affects cognitive and emotional control mechanisms engaged in multimodal speech processing. In previous work we showed that negative, task-relevant and -irrelevant emotion modulates the two types of control in younger and older adults without hearing loss. To further explore how reduced hearing capacity affects emotional and cognitive control, we tested whether moderate hearing loss (>30 dB) at frequencies relevant for speech impacts cognitive and emotional control. We tested two groups of older adults with hearing loss (HL; N = 21; mean age = 70.5) and without hearing loss (NH; N = 21; mean age = 68.4). In two EEG experiments participants observed multimodal video clips and either categorized pronounced vowels (cognitive conflict) or their emotions (emotional conflict). Importantly, the facial expressions were either matched or mismatched with the corresponding vocalizations. In both conflict tasks, we found that negative stimuli modulated behavioral conflict processing in the NH but not the HL group, while the HL group performed at chance level in the emotional conflict task. Further, we found that the amplitude difference between congruent and incongruent stimuli was larger in negative relative to neutral N100 responses across tasks and groups. Lastly, in the emotional conflict task, neutral stimuli elicited a smaller N200 response than emotional stimuli primarily in the HL group. Consequently, age-related hearing loss not only affects the processing of emotional acoustic cues but also alters the behavioral benefits of emotional stimuli on cognitive and emotional control, despite preserved early neural responses. The resulting difficulties in the multimodal integration of incongruent emotional stimuli may lead to problems in processing complex social information (irony, sarcasm) and impact emotion processing in the limbic network. This could be related to social isolation and depression observed in the elderly with age-related hearing loss.
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Affiliation(s)
- Artyom Zinchenko
- International Max Planck Research School on Neuroscience of Communication (IMPRS NeuroCom), Leipzig, Germany.,Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.,Department Psychologie, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
| | - Philipp Kanske
- Chair of Clinical Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.,Department of Social Neuroscience, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Christian Obermeier
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Erich Schröger
- Institute of Psychology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Arno Villringer
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Sonja A Kotz
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.,Department of Neuropsychology and Psychopharmacology, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands
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12
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Wermelinger S, Gampe A, Behr J, Daum MM. Interference of action perception on action production increases across the adult life span. Exp Brain Res 2017; 236:577-586. [PMID: 29249051 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-017-5157-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2017] [Accepted: 12/14/2017] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
Action perception and action production are assumed to be based on an internal simulation process that involves the sensorimotor system. This system undergoes changes across the life span and is assumed to become less precise with age. In the current study, we investigated how increasing age affects the magnitude of interference in action production during simultaneous action perception. In a task adapted from Brass et al. (Brain Cogn 44(2):124-143, 2000), we asked participants (aged 20-80 years) to respond to a visually presented finger movement and/or symbolic cue by executing a previously defined finger movement. Action production was assessed via participants' reaction times. Results show that participants were slower in trials in which they were asked to ignore an incongruent finger movement compared to trials in which they had to ignore an incongruent symbolic cue. Moreover, advancing age was shown to accentuate this effect. We suggest that the internal simulation of the action becomes less precise with age making the sensorimotor system more susceptible to perturbations such as the interference of a concurrent action perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephanie Wermelinger
- Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Binzmuehlestrasse 14, 8050, Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - Anja Gampe
- Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Binzmuehlestrasse 14, 8050, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Jannis Behr
- Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Binzmuehlestrasse 14, 8050, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Moritz M Daum
- Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Binzmuehlestrasse 14, 8050, Zurich, Switzerland.,Neuroscience Center Zurich, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
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13
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Zinchenko A, Obermeier C, Kanske P, Schröger E, Villringer A, Kotz SA. The Influence of Negative Emotion on Cognitive and Emotional Control Remains Intact in Aging. Front Aging Neurosci 2017; 9:349. [PMID: 29163132 PMCID: PMC5671981 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2017.00349] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2017] [Accepted: 10/16/2017] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Healthy aging is characterized by a gradual decline in cognitive control and inhibition of interferences, while emotional control is either preserved or facilitated. Emotional control regulates the processing of emotional conflicts such as in irony in speech, and cognitive control resolves conflict between non-affective tendencies. While negative emotion can trigger control processes and speed up resolution of both cognitive and emotional conflicts, we know little about how aging affects the interaction of emotion and control. In two EEG experiments, we compared the influence of negative emotion on cognitive and emotional conflict processing in groups of younger adults (mean age = 25.2 years) and older adults (69.4 years). Participants viewed short video clips and either categorized spoken vowels (cognitive conflict) or their emotional valence (emotional conflict), while the visual facial information was congruent or incongruent. Results show that negative emotion modulates both cognitive and emotional conflict processing in younger and older adults as indicated in reduced response times and/or enhanced event-related potentials (ERPs). In emotional conflict processing, we observed a valence-specific N100 ERP component in both age groups. In cognitive conflict processing, we observed an interaction of emotion by congruence in the N100 responses in both age groups, and a main effect of congruence in the P200 and N200. Thus, the influence of emotion on conflict processing remains intact in aging, despite a marked decline in cognitive control. Older adults may prioritize emotional wellbeing and preserve the role of emotion in cognitive and emotional control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Artyom Zinchenko
- International Max Planck Research School on Neuroscience of Communication, Leipzig, Germany.,Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.,Department Psychologie, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
| | - Christian Obermeier
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Philipp Kanske
- Department of Social Neuroscience, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.,Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Department of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Erich Schröger
- Institute of Psychology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Arno Villringer
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Sonja A Kotz
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.,Department of Neuropsychology and Psychopharmacology, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands
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14
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Walk AM, Khan NA, Barnett SM, Raine LB, Kramer AF, Cohen NJ, Moulton CJ, Renzi-Hammond LM, Hammond BR, Hillman CH. From neuro-pigments to neural efficiency: The relationship between retinal carotenoids and behavioral and neuroelectric indices of cognitive control in childhood. Int J Psychophysiol 2017; 118:1-8. [PMID: 28528704 PMCID: PMC5551452 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2017.05.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2017] [Revised: 05/09/2017] [Accepted: 05/13/2017] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Lutein and zeaxanthin are plant pigments known to preferentially accumulate in neural tissue. Macular Pigment Optical Density (MPOD), a non-invasive measure of retinal carotenoids and surrogate measure of brain carotenoid concentration, has been associated with disease prevention and cognitive health. Superior MPOD status in later adulthood has been shown to provide neuroprotective effects on cognition. Given that childhood signifies a critical period for carotenoid accumulation in brain, it is likely that the beneficial impact would be evident during development, though this relationship has not been directly investigated. The present study investigated the relationship between MPOD and the behavioral and neuroelectric indices elicited during a cognitive control task in preadolescent children. 49 participants completed a modified flanker task while event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded to assess the P3 component of the ERP waveform. MPOD was associated with both behavioral performance and P3 amplitude such that children with higher MPOD had more accurate performance and lower P3 amplitudes. These relationships were more pronounced for trials requiring greater amounts of cognitive control. These results indicate that children with higher MPOD may respond to cognitive tasks more efficiently, maintaining high performance while displaying neural indices indicative of lower cognitive load. These findings provide novel support for the neuroprotective influence of retinal carotenoids during preadolescence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne M Walk
- Department of Kinesiology and Community Health, University of Illinois, United States
| | - Naiman A Khan
- Department of Kinesiology and Community Health, University of Illinois, United States; Division of Nutritional Sciences, University of Illinois, United States.
| | - Sasha M Barnett
- Department of Food Science, Washington State University, United States
| | - Lauren B Raine
- Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, United States
| | - Arthur F Kramer
- Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, United States; Beckman Institute of Science and Technology, University of Illinois, United States
| | - Neal J Cohen
- Beckman Institute of Science and Technology, University of Illinois, United States; Department of Psychology University of Illinois, United States
| | | | | | - Billy R Hammond
- Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Georgia, United States
| | - Charles H Hillman
- Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, United States; Department of Health Science, Northeastern University, United States
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15
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Duque J, Petitjean C, Swinnen SP. Effect of Aging on Motor Inhibition during Action Preparation under Sensory Conflict. Front Aging Neurosci 2016; 8:322. [PMID: 28082896 PMCID: PMC5186800 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2016.00322] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2016] [Accepted: 12/12/2016] [Indexed: 01/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Motor behaviors often require refraining from selecting options that may be part of the repertoire of natural response tendencies but that are in conflict with ongoing goals. The presence of sensory conflict has a behavioral cost but the latter can be attenuated in contexts where control processes are recruited because conflict is expected in advance, producing a behavioral gain compared to contexts where conflict occurs in a less predictable way. In the present study, we investigated the corticospinal correlates of these behavioral effects (both conflict-driven cost and context-related gain). To do so, we measured motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) elicited by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the primary motor cortex (M1) of young and healthy older adults performing the Eriksen Flanker Task. Subjects performed button-presses according to a central arrow, flanked by irrelevant arrows pointing in the same (congruent trial) or opposite direction (incongruent trial). Conflict expectation was manipulated by changing the probability of congruent and incongruent trials in a given block. It was either high (mostly incongruent blocks, MIB, 80% incongruent trials) or low (mostly congruent blocks, MCB, 80% congruent). The MEP data indicate that the conflict-driven behavioral cost is associated with a strong increase in inappropriate motor activity regardless of the age of individuals, as revealed by larger MEPs in the non-responding muscle in incongruent than in congruent trials. However, this aberrant facilitation disappeared in both groups of subjects when conflict could be anticipated (i.e., in the MIBs) compared to when it occurred in a less predictably way (MCBs), probably allowing the behavioral gain observed in both the young and the older individuals. Hence, the ability to overcome and anticipate conflict was surprisingly preserved in the older adults. Nevertheless, some control processes are likely to evolve with age because the behavioral gain observed in the MIB context was associated with an attenuated suppression of MEPs at the time of the imperative signal (i.e., before conflict is actually detected) in older individuals, suggesting altered motor inhibition, compared to young individuals. In addition, the behavioral analysis suggests that young and older adults rely on different strategies to cope with conflict, including a change in speed-accuracy tradeoff.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julie Duque
- Institute of Neuroscience, Université catholique de Louvain Brussels, Belgium
| | - Charlotte Petitjean
- Institute of Neuroscience, Université catholique de Louvain Brussels, Belgium
| | - Stephan P Swinnen
- Movement Control and Neuroplasticity Research Group, Group Biomedical Sciences, KU Leuven Leuven, Belgium
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16
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Selective perturbation of cognitive conflict in the human brain-A combined fMRI and rTMS study. Sci Rep 2016; 6:38700. [PMID: 27958301 PMCID: PMC5153836 DOI: 10.1038/srep38700] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2016] [Accepted: 11/14/2016] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
We investigated if single and double conflicts are processed separately in different brain regions and if they are differentially vulnerable to TMS perturbation. Fifteen human volunteers performed a single (Flanker or Simon) conflict task or a double (Flanker and Simon) conflict task in a combined functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) study. The fMRI approach aimed at localizing brain regions involved in interference resolution induced by single Flanker (stimulus-stimulus, S-S) and Simon (stimulus-response, S-R) conflicts as well as regions involved in the double conflict condition. The data revealed a distinct activation in the right intraparietal sulcus (IPS) for Flanker interference and in the right middle frontal gyrus (MFG) for the double interference condition. The causal functional role of these brain regions was then examined in the same volunteers by using offline TMS over right IPS and right MFG. TMS perturbation of the right IPS increased the Flanker effect, but had no effect in the Simon or double conflict condition. In contrast, perturbation of the right MFG had no effect on any of the conflict types. These findings suggest a causal role of the right IPS in the processing of the single conflict of Flanker (stimulus-stimulus) interference.
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