Characterizing the role of the pre‐SMA in the control of speed/accuracy trade‐off with directed functional connectivity mapping and multiple solution reduction

Abstract

Several plausible theories of the neural implementation of speed/accuracy trade‐off (SAT), the phenomenon in which individuals may alternately emphasize speed or accuracy during the performance of cognitive tasks, have been proposed, and multiple lines of evidence point to the involvement of the pre‐supplemental motor area (pre‐SMA). However, as the nature and directionality of the pre‐SMA's functional connections to other regions involved in cognitive control and task processing are not known, its precise role in the top‐down control of SAT remains unclear. Although recent advances in cross‐sectional path modeling provide a promising way of characterizing these connections, such models are limited by their tendency to produce multiple equivalent solutions. In a sample of healthy adults (N = 18), the current study uses the novel approach of Group Iterative Multiple Model Estimation for Multiple Solutions (GIMME‐MS) to assess directed functional connections between the pre‐SMA, other regions previously linked to control of SAT, and regions putatively involved in evidence accumulation for the decision task. Results reveal a primary role of the pre‐SMA for modulating activity in regions involved in the decision process but suggest that this region receives top‐down input from the DLPFC. Findings also demonstrate the utility of GIMME‐MS and solution‐reduction methods for obtaining valid directional inferences from connectivity path models.

Neural Mechanisms for Executive Control of Speed-Accuracy Tradeoff

“…However, the consistently larger response to task stimuli and during responses in Fast relative to Accurate trials is not consistent with neuroimaging reports of reduced transient response-related activation during speed emphasis (Ivanoff et al, 2008;van Veen et al, 2008). In addition, some neuroimaging studies conclude that emphasis on speed or accuracy entail different networks or network configurations (e.g., Forstmann et al, 2008;Weigard et al, 2018). This conclusion is difficult to reconcile with the neurophysiological data from this and the other studies showing only quantitative and not qualitative differences across SAT conditions.…”

“…When viewed from the perspectives of formal models of SAT and previous studies of SAT using noninvasive measures of physiology (Forstmann et al, 2008Ivanoff et al, 2008;van Maanen et al, 2011;Murphy et al, 2016;Steinemann et al, 2018;van Veen et al, 2008;Weigard et al, 2018;Wenzlaff et al, 2011), coupled with prior extensive knowledge about the connectivity and functional properties of the brain circuits producing visually guided saccades (e.g., Liversedge et al, 2011), and previous studies of FEF (Heitz and Schall, 2012;Servant et al, 2019) and SC (Reppert et al, 2018), LIP (Hanks et al, 2014), skeletomotor cortex (Thura and Cisek, 2016) and basal ganglia (Thura and Cisek, 2017), the current findings offer several new insights into the neural mechanisms of SAT.…”

“…Multiple fMRI studies of SAT have been conducted (Forstmann et al, 2008;Ivanoff et al, 2008;van Maanen et al, 2011;van Veen et al, 2008;Weigard et al, 2018). Different tasks and analysis pipelines lead to different cortical and subcortical regions identified or emphasized across studies.…”

“…Some studies report greater activation of preSMA with an emphasis on speed during the baseline period (Forstmann et al, 2008;van Veen et al, 2008). Other studies report a similar effect during the response time interval (Ivanoff et al, 2008;van Maanen et al, 2011;van Veen et al, 2008;Weigard et al, 2018). Several investigators propose that preSMA sets the excursion between baseline and threshold levels of an evidence accumulation process through interactions with striatum and other regions (Forstmann et al, 2008;Ivanoff et al, 2008;van Maanen et al, 2011;Weigard et al, 2018;Wenzlaff et al, 2011).…”

Reducing variability of perceptual decision making with offline theta-burst TMS of dorsal medial frontal cortex

“…dMFC lies outside the conventional network related to vestibular processing and the SVV [15e18], yet it is a main hub in a network that is responsible for perceptual decision making in which it exerts top-down control to other nodes such as the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) or insula [24,44], areas which form the human core vestibular region [15e17]. Moreover, dorsal medial frontal cortex may contribute to the processing of vestibular information [16,19].…”