Stimulus onset predictability modulates proactive action control in a Go/No-go task

Reduction of anticipatory brain activity in anxious people and regulatory effect of response-related feedback

Elevated anxiety levels degrade task performance, likely because of cognitive function reduction in the frontoparietal brain network. This study aimed to test whether anxiety could impact the frontal cortex anticipatory brain functions and to investigate the possible beneficial effect of response-related feedback on task performance. The electroencephalographic activity was recorded while participants performed two Go/No-go tasks: one with response-related feedback on errors (feedback task) and one task without feedback (standard task). We first tested whether anxiety levels could be associated with pre-stimulus ERP components such as the prefrontal negativity (pN), linked with top-down attentional control, and the Bereitschaftspotential (BP), related to motor preparation. Then, we assessed whether feedback could affect anxious people's brain preparation, reducing the state of uncertainty and improving performance. Results showed that the pN was almost absent and the BP was lower during a standard task in the high anxiety than in the low anxiety group. In the feedback task, these components increased in the high anxious, becoming comparable to the low anxious. Behavioral results showed that false alarms in the high anxiety group were larger than in the low anxiety group during the standard task but became comparable in the feedback task. Similarly, response time in the high anxiety group was slower in the standard task than in the feedback task, and high anxious people were faster in the feedback task than in the standard one. This study contributes to clarifying neural correlates of anxiety, showing brain activity reductions related to action preparation in frontal areas. In addition, response-related feedback tasks could be used to normalize task performance in high anxious people.

Modulation of neurocognitive functions associated with action preparation and early stimulus processing by response-generated feedback

Receiving feedback on action correctness is a relevant factor in learning, but only a few recent studies have investigated the neural bases involved in feedback processing and its consequences on performance. Several event-related potentials (ERP) studies investigated the feedback-related negativity, which is an ERP occurring after the presentation of a feedback stimulus. In contrast, the present study investigates the effect of providing feedback on brain activities before and after the presentation of an imperative stimulus with the aim to show how this could have an impact on cognitive functions related to anticipatory and post-stimulus task processing. Participants performed a standard visuomotor task and a modified version of the same task in which feedback sounds were emitted when participants committed performance errors. Overall, results showed that in the feedback task subjects have better cognitive control than in the standard task. All behavioral measures were improved in the feedback task. At the brain level, all the studied components were modulated by the presence of the feedback cue. Results pointed to a possible increase of anticipatory activity in the prefrontal cortex, a reduction of perceptual awareness in areas previously associated with the anterior insular cortex, and an increase of activity associated with selective attention in sensory cortices.

From Uncertainty to Anxiety: How Uncertainty Fuels Anxiety in a Process Mediated by Intolerance of Uncertainty

Uncertainty about future events may lead to worry, anxiety, even inability to function. The highly related concept-intolerance of uncertainty (IU)-emerged in the early 1990s, which is further developed into a transdiagnostic risk factor in multiple forms of anxiety disorders. Interests in uncertainty and intolerance of uncertainty have rapidly increased in recent years; little is known about the construct and phenomenology of uncertainty and IU and the association between them. In an attempt to reveal the nature of two concepts, we reviewed broad literature surrounding uncertainty and intolerance of uncertainty (IU). We followed the process in which the whole IU theory developed and extended, including two aspects: (1) from uncertainty to intolerance of uncertainty and (2) definition of uncertainty and intolerance of uncertainty, and further concluded uncertainty fuels to negative emotions, biased expectancy, and inflexible response. Secondly, this paper summarized the experimental research concerning uncertainty and IU, consisted of three parts: (1) uncertainty-based research, (2) measurements of IU, and (3) domain-specific IU. Lastly, we pointed out what remains unknown and needed to be investigated in future research. This result provides a comprehensive overview in this domain, enhancing our understanding of uncertainty and IU and contributing to further theoretical and empirical explorations.

Effect of task complexity on motor and cognitive preparatory brain activities

In the present study, we investigated scalp-recorded activities of motor and cognitive preparation preceding stimulus presentation in relatively simple and complex visual motor discriminative response tasks (DRTs). Targets and non-targets were presented (with equal probability) in both tasks, and the complexity of the task depended on the discrimination and categorization processing load, which was based on the number of stimuli used (two stimuli in the simple- and four in the complex-DRT, respectively). We recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) in 16 participants in simple-DRT and 16 participants in complex-DRT. At the behavioral level, the performance was faster and more accurate in simple-DRT. Two pre-stimulus ERPs were considered: the central Bereitschaftspotential (BP) and the prefrontal negativity (pN). Both components showed earlier onset and larger amplitude in the complex-DRT. Overall, the simple-DRT required less motor and cognitive preparation in premotor and prefrontal areas compared to the complex-DRT. Present findings also suggest that the pN component was not reported in previous studies, likely because most ERP literature focusing on pre-stimulus ERP used simple-DRTs, and with such a task the pN amplitude is small and can easily go undetected.

The Role of Task Complexity on Frontal Event-related Potentials and Evidence in Favour of the Epiphenomenal Interpretation of the Go/No-Go N2 Effect

It is well established that task complexity can affect both performance and brain processing. Event-related potentials (ERPs) studies have shown modulation of the well-known N2 and P3 components. However, limited information is available on the recently described frontal components associated with processing within the anterior insular cortex. This work aims to shed light on the effect of task complexity on the insular ERP components associated with perceptual (pN1) and sensory-motor awareness (pP1), as well as with stimulus-response mapping (the pP2). Moreover, this comparison of tasks with different complexity was expected to provide a new point of view on the debate on inhibitory or conflict monitoring role of the N2 component. Thirty-two participants were assigned to two groups: one performed an easy response task (with only a target and a non-target stimulus), the other one performed a complex response task (with two target and two non-target stimuli). The task comparison revealed enhanced pP1 and pP2 components but a reduced N2 component in the complex paradigm. These results suggest that task complexity may entail greater processing strength in the anterior insula functions associated with endogenous perceptual processing. Also, findings on the N2 activity provide evidence against both the inhibitory and conflict interpretation of this component, as the N2 amplitude was reduced in the complex task.

Event-related desynchronization of alpha and beta band neural oscillations predicts speech and limb motor timing deficits in normal aging

Normal aging is associated with decline of motor timing mechanisms implicated in planning and execution of movement. Evidence from previous studies has highlighted the relationship between neural oscillatory activities and motor timing processing in neurotypical younger adults; however, it remains unclear how normal aging affects the underlying neural mechanisms of movement in older populations. In the present study, we recorded EEG activities in two groups of younger and older adults while they performed randomized speech and limb motor reaction time tasks cued by temporally predictable and unpredictable sensory stimuli. Our data showed that older adults were significantly slower than their younger counterparts during speech production and limb movement, especially in response to temporally unpredictable sensory stimuli. This behavioral effect was accompanied by significant desynchronization of alpha (7-12 Hz) and beta (13-25 Hz) band neural oscillatory activities in older compared with younger adults, primarily during the preparatory pre-motor phase of responses for speech production and limb movement. In addition, we found that faster motor reaction times in younger adults were significantly correlated with weaker desynchronization of pre-motor alpha and beta band neural activities irrespective of stimulus timing and response modality. However, the pre-motor components of alpha and beta activities were timing-specific in older adults and were more strongly desynchronized in response to temporally predictable sensory stimuli. These findings highlight the role of alpha and beta band neural oscillations in motor timing processing mechanisms and reflect their functional deficits during the planning phase of speech production and limb movement in normal aging.

Behavioral and neural correlates of normal aging effects on motor preparatory mechanisms of speech production and limb movement

Normal aging is associated with decline of the sensorimotor mechanisms that support movement function in the human brain. In this study, we used behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) recordings to investigate the effects of normal aging on the motor preparatory mechanisms of speech production and limb movement. The experiment involved two groups of older and younger adults who performed randomized speech vowel vocalization and button press motor reaction time tasks in response to temporally predictable and unpredictable visual stimuli. Behavioral results revealed age-related slowness of motor reaction time only during speech production in response to temporally unpredictable stimuli, and this effect was accompanied by increased pre-motor ERP activities in older vs. younger adults during the speech task. These results indicate that motor preparatory mechanisms of limb movement during button press are not affected by normal aging, whereas the functional capacity of these mechanisms is reduced in older adults during speech production in response to unpredictable sensory stimuli. These findings suggest that the aging brain selectively compromises the motor timing of speech and recruits additional neural resources for motor planning and execution of speech, as indexed by the increased pre-motor ERP activations in response to temporally unpredictable vs. predictable sensory stimuli.

Anger Weakens Behavioral Inhibition Selectively in Contact Athletes

Studies have increasingly found that the aggression level of contact athletes is higher than that of non-athletes. Given that higher aggression levels are associated with worse behavioral inhibition and that athletes show better behavioral inhibition than non-athletes, it is unclear why contact athletes would exhibit higher aggression levels. Emotion, especially anger, is an important factor in the generation of aggressive behavior, and anger has been shown to affect behavioral inhibition. Thus, the present study examined the influence of anger on behavioral inhibition in contact athletes. An implicit emotional Go/No-go task was used that contained 50 anger-associated words and 50 neutral words as stimuli. Participants were asked to execute a key press depending on the explicit color of word and to ignore any (implicit) emotional information associated with the word. The results showed a significant interaction in performance accuracy on the No-go task between emotion (i.e., anger-associated words versus neutral words) and group (athlete versus non-athlete). The performance accuracy of the contact athletes on anger-associated stimuli was significantly lower than that for neutral stimuli. Evoked delta and theta oscillations were analyzed at the time windows 200–600 and 200–400 ms respectively in both groups. A time-frequency analysis indicated a significant interaction between group, emotion and task for both evoked delta and theta oscillations. Post hoc analyses showed that stronger evoked delta and theta oscillations were evoked during the presentation of anger-associated stimuli compared with neutral stimuli on the No-go task in athletes. By contrast, no other significant effect was found in the control group or between the control and athlete groups. These results indicate that time-frequency analysis can effectively distinguish conventional ERP components and that implicit anger significantly weakens behavioral inhibition in contact athletes but not in non-athletes.

Effects of aging on temporal predictive mechanisms of speech and hand motor reaction time

Evidence from previous studies has suggested that movement execution in younger adults is accelerated in response to temporally predictable vs. unpredictable sensory stimuli. This effect indicates that external temporal information can modulate motor behavior; however, how aging can influence temporal predictive mechanisms in motor system has yet to be understood. The objective of the present study was to investigate aging effects on the initiation and inhibition of speech and hand movement reaction times in response to temporally predictable and unpredictable sensory stimuli. Fifteen younger (mean age 22.6) and fifteen older (mean age 63.8) adults performed a randomized speech vowel vocalization or button press initiation and inhibition tasks in two counterbalanced blocks in response to temporally predictable and unpredictable visual cue stimuli. Results showed that motor reaction time was accelerated in both younger and older adults for predictable vs. unpredictable stimuli during initiation and inhibition of speech and hand movement. However, older adults were significantly slower than younger adults in motor execution of speech and hand movement when stimulus timing was unpredictable. Moreover, we found that overall, motor inhibition of speech and hand was executed faster than their initiation. Our findings suggest that older adults can compensate age-related decline in motor reaction times by incorporating external temporal information and execute faster movement in response to predictable stimuli, whereas unpredictable temporal information cannot counteract aging effects efficiently and lead to less accurate motor timing predictive codes for speech production and hand movement.