This study investigates the neural correlates underpinning response inhibition using a parametric ex-Gaussian model of stop-signal task performance, fit with hierarchical Bayesian methods, in a large healthy sample (N = 156). The parametric model accounted for both stop-signal reaction time (SSRT) and trigger failure (i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe ability to control behaviour is thought to rely at least partly on adequately suppressing impulsive responses to external stimuli. However, the evidence for a relationship between response inhibition ability and impulse control is weak and inconsistent. This study investigates the relationship between response inhibition and both self-report and behavioural measures of impulsivity as well as engagement in risky behaviours in a large community sample (N = 174) of healthy adolescents and young adults (15-35 years).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEvent-related potential (ERP) studies using the task-switching paradigm show that multiple ERP components are modulated by activation of proactive control processes involved in preparing to repeat or switch task and reactive control processes involved in implementation of the current or new task. Our understanding of the functional significance of these ERP components has been hampered by variability in their robustness, as well as their temporal and scalp distribution across studies. The aim of this study is to examine the effect of choice of reference electrode or spatial filter on the number, timing and scalp distribution of ERP elicited during task-switching.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOne of the most robust electrophysiological features of schizophrenia is reduced mismatch negativity, a component of the event related potential (ERP) induced by rare and unexpected stimuli in an otherwise regular pattern. Emerging evidence suggests that mismatch negativity (MMN) is not the only ERP index of deviance detection in the mammalian brain and that sensitivity to deviant sounds in a regular background can be observed at earlier latencies in both the human and rodent brain. Pharmacological studies in humans and rodents have previously found that MMN reductions similar to those seen in schizophrenia can be elicited by N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonism, an observation in agreement with the hypothesised role of NMDA receptor hypofunction in schizophrenia pathogenesis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe onset of schizophrenia is typically preceded by a prodromal period lasting several years during which sub-threshold symptoms may be identified retrospectively. Clinical interviews are currently used to identify individuals who have an ultra-high risk (UHR) of developing a psychotic illness with a view to provision of interventions that prevent, delay or reduce severity of future mental health issues. The utility of bio-markers as an adjunct in the identification of UHR individuals is not yet established.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF[This corrects the article on p. 384 in vol. 10, PMID: 27547180.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the motor cortex is considered a potential treatment for motor rehabilitation following stroke and other neurological pathologies. However, both the context under which this stimulation is effective and the underlying mechanisms remain to be determined. In this study, we examined the mechanisms by which anodal tDCS may affect motor performance by recording event-related potentials (ERPs) during a cued go/nogo task after anodal tDCS over dominant primary motor cortex (M1) in young adults (Experiment 1) and both dominant and non-dominant M1 in older adults (Experiment 2).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPsychophysiology
February 2016
For 30 years, the independent race model has been used to account for the attempt to reactively inhibit on-going responses in the stop-signal task (reactive behavioral inhibition). The success of the race model derives in part by assuming that motor response activation speed is not different on inhibition trials compared to trials where inhibition is not required. To date, neurophysiological evidence supporting this assumption (context independence) has been limited, especially in human participants.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the primary motor cortex (M1) has been proposed as a possible therapeutic rehabilitation technique for motor impairment. However, despite extensive investigation into the effects of anodal tDCS on motor output, there is little information on how anodal tDCS affects response processes. In this study, we used a cued go/nogo task with both directional and non-directional cues to assess the effects of anodal tDCS over the dominant (left) primary motor cortex on prepared and unprepared motor responses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCognitive control involves both proactive and reactive processes. Paradigms that rely on reactive control have shown that frontoparietal oscillatory synchronization in the theta frequency band is associated with interference control. This study examines whether proactive control is also associated with connectivity in the same frontoparietal theta network or involves a distinct neural signature.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMismatch negativity (MMN) is a scalp-recorded electrical potential that occurs in humans in response to an auditory stimulus that defies previously established patterns of regularity. MMN amplitude is reduced in people with schizophrenia. In this study, we aimed to develop a robust and replicable rat model of MMN, as a platform for a more thorough understanding of the neurobiology underlying MMN.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMismatch negativity (MMN) is a component of the event-related potential elicited by deviant auditory stimuli. It is presumed to index pre-attentive monitoring of changes in the auditory environment. MMN amplitude is smaller in groups of individuals with schizophrenia compared to healthy controls.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStop-signal paradigms operationalize a basic test of goal-directed behaviour whereby an overarching stop goal that is performed intermittently must be maintained throughout ongoing performance of a reaction time go task (go goal). Previous studies of sustained brain activation during stop-signal task performance in humans did not observe activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) that, in concert with the parietal cortex, is known to subserve goal maintenance. Here we explored the hypothesis that a DLPFC and parietal network has a key role in supporting ongoing stop-signal task performance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe stop-signal paradigm is increasingly being used as a probe of response inhibition in basic and clinical neuroimaging research. The critical feature of this task is that a cued response is countermanded by a secondary 'stop-signal' stimulus offset from the first by a 'stop-signal delay'. Here we explored the role of task difficulty in the stop-signal task with the hypothesis that what is critical for successful inhibition is the time available for stopping, that we define as the difference between stop-signal onset and the expected response time (approximated by reaction time from previous trial).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAn important prerequisite for the development of animal models of human auditory evoked potentials (AEP) is the accurate identification of homology. Prior research has revealed some remarkably similar response properties between rat and human AEPs, although there remains little consensus regarding the nature or validity of this correspondence. In the present study we seek to extend this research by examining the response properties of rat AEP as a function of stimulus repetition and interval.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe capacity of the human brain to detect deviance in the acoustic environment pre-attentively is reflected in a brain event-related potential (ERP), mismatch negativity (MMN). MMN is observed in response to the presentation of rare oddball sounds that deviate from an otherwise regular pattern of frequent background standard sounds. While the primate and cat auditory cortex (AC) exhibit MMN-like activity, it is unclear whether the rodent AC produces a deviant response that reflects deviance detection in a background of regularities evident in recent auditory stimulus history or differential adaptation of neuronal responses due to rarity of the deviant sound.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInhibitory control deficits are well documented in schizophrenia, supported by impairment in an established measure of response inhibition, the stop-signal reaction time (SSRT). We investigated the neural basis of this impairment by comparing schizophrenia patients and controls matched for age, sex and education on behavioural, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and event-related potential (ERP) indices of stop-signal task performance. Compared to controls, patients exhibited slower SSRT and reduced right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG) activation, but rIFG activation correlated with SSRT in both groups.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe investigated ERP and fMRI correlates of anticipatory preparation and response inhibition in a cued task-switching paradigm with informatively cued, non-informatively cued and no-go trials. Cue-locked ERPs showed evidence for a multicomponent preparation process. An early cue-locked differential positivity was larger for informative vs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFeedforward inhibition deficits have been consistently demonstrated in a range of neuropsychiatric conditions using prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the acoustic startle eye-blink reflex when assessing sensorimotor gating. While PPI can be recorded in acutely decerebrated rats, behavioural, pharmacological and psychophysiological studies suggest the involvement of a complex neural network extending from brainstem nuclei to higher order cortical areas. The current functional magnetic resonance imaging study investigated the neural network underlying PPI and its association with electromyographically (EMG) recorded PPI of the acoustic startle eye-blink reflex in 16 healthy volunteers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn the Stroop task, the latency of response to a colour is either faster or slower in the presence of a congruent or incongruent colour-word (J. Exp. Psychol.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSignal Detection tasks typically involve within-subject signal changes. Such a procedure does not lend itself to event-related potential (ERP) experiments where the need for averaging necessitates the maintenance of consistent stimulus parameters. In the present ERP study we adopt a novel approach to thresholding that allows within-subject signal manipulation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Clin Exp Neuropsychol
December 2000
This paper provides data on a family in which three members, all female, have been diagnosed as having agenesis of the corpus callosum. That all three acallosal individuals came from the same family and showed relatively uniform neuropsychological impairment and could be compared in similar terms with their "callosal" siblings, also female, provides a unique sample. Inter-hemispheric transfer, psychometric measures, and motor and cognitive function were examined in the acallosal individuals, all of whom had borderline to low-average intelligence, with results compared to their non-acallosal siblings.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEvent-related potentials were measured in response to an interference task in which unattended stimulus items were compatible, incompatible a neutral with regard to the attended stimulus items. Two stimulus items were presented simultaneously and bilaterally--one in each visual field. This allowed examination of the event-related potential waveform according to whether recording sites were contralateral to the attended or unattended location.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA series of psychophysical and electrophysiological experiments is reported using the apparent motion (AM) breakdown effect. Breakdown describes an effect in AM in which, during continuous viewing, the percept of smooth of a single stimulus alternates with the percept of two discrete alternating stimuli. Visual evoked potentials (VEPs) were recorded during periods of motion or breakdown ("nonmotion") in horizontal and vertical displays.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe experiment reported here examined an interference paradigm using a bilateral stimulus presentation in which stimuli were presented simultaneously in the left and right visual fields. The lateralization of the early visual components allowed an ERP examination of material presented in each field. Attention was directed to one field or the other on each trial by a 100% valid cue.
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