Dynamic interactions of the cortical networks during thought suppression

Abstract

ObjectivesThought suppression has spurred extensive research in clinical and preclinical fields, particularly with regard to the paradoxical aspects of this behavior. However, the involvement of the brain's inhibitory system in the dynamics underlying the continuous effort to suppress thoughts has yet to be clarified. This study aims to provide a unified perspective for the volitional suppression of internal events incorporating the current understanding of the brain's inhibitory system.Materials and MethodsTwenty healthy volunteers underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while they performed thought suppression blocks alternating with visual imagery blocks. The whole dataset was decomposed by group‐independent component analysis into 30 components. After discarding noise components, the 20 valid components were subjected to further analysis of their temporal properties including task‐relatedness and between‐component residual correlation.ResultsCombining a long task period and a data‐driven approach, we observed a right‐side‐dominant, lateral frontoparietal network to be strongly suppression related. This network exhibited increased fluctuation during suppression, which is compatible with the well‐known difficulty of suppression maintenance.ConclusionsBetween‐network correlation provided further insight into the coordinated engagement of the executive control and dorsal attention networks, as well as the reciprocal activation of imagery‐related components, thus revealing neural substrates associated with the rivalry between intrusive thoughts and the suppression process.

Decoding non-conscious thought representations during successful thought suppression

“…A GLM analysis (see Materials and Methods for details) revealed a left-lateralized network was associated with imagery production and a right-lateralized network associated with suppression ( Figure 2A). This is consistent with previous neuroimaging and lesion studies (Farah 1984;D'Esposito et al 1997;Aso et al 2016;Garavan, Ross, and Stein 1999). The brain areas activated by both imagery (on the left hemisphere) and suppression (on the right hemisphere) were the superior frontal, prefrontal and temporal cortex (Figure 2A).…”

Psychological risk factors, cognitive-contextual approaches and neural correlates in eating disorders: an integrative review

“…Moreover, increased fluctuation during suppression was found in this frontoparietal network [50], with re-emergence of intrusive thoughts being associated with activation of the ACC [49]. These findings corroborate the difficulty of intrusive thoughts management through suppression maintenance.…”

“…Thought suppression involves continuous inhibition and, in healthy controls, seems to be related to activity in the DLPFC [49], with extension to the right lateral frontoparietal network [50], suggesting a coordinated engagement of the executive control and dorsal attention networks. Moreover, increased fluctuation during suppression was found in this frontoparietal network [50], with re-emergence of intrusive thoughts being associated with activation of the ACC [49].…”

Altered functional connectivity differs in stroke survivors with impaired touch sensation following left and right hemisphere lesions

“…This region is part of the Frontoparietal Control Network (FCN), a network that may act as intermediary between DAN and Default Mode networks ( Vincent et al, 2008 ). Studies have found the region to have increased activation of the IPL during tasks that require inhibition of responses, such as the stop signal task ( Aron and Poldrack, 2006 ) and suppression of visual response ( Aso et al, 2016 ). This region has also been associated with multi-modal sensory information integration ( Beauchamp et al, 2010 ; Gentile et al, 2011 ; Renier et al, 2009 ).…”