Neural mechanism in anterior prefrontal cortex for inhibition of prolonged set interference

Abstract

Once one cognitive set dominates our behavior, it continues to influence subsequent behavior for a while even after a task to be performed is changed to another. Despite abundant knowledge of the inhibitory mechanisms that are recruited at the first trial after the change (the first inhibition trial), little is known about the inhibition of prolonged proactive interference from a previous set that lingers for several trials after the first inhibition trial. The present functional MRI study explored the neural mechanisms for inhibition of a previous set that were recruited after the first inhibition trial. A modified Wisconsin Card Sorting Test was used where ''dual-match stimuli'' were intermittently presented and allowed subjects to perform correctly based on previously appropriate, now inappropriate, responses. In response to the dualmatch stimulus at ''release'' trials presented after the first inhibition trials, the subjects were transiently exempted from inhibiting the prolonged previous set. As expected from the exempted inhibitory demands, significant reaction time decrease was revealed in the release trials. Consistent with the behavioral results, transient signal decrease time-locked to the release trials was revealed in the left anterior part of the superior frontal sulcus. Moreover, the anterior prefrontal region was not sensitive to the task change, which exhibited a marked contrast to the left posterior inferior prefrontal region that showed significant signal changes in both events. These results revealed multiple inhibitory mechanisms in the lateral prefrontal cortex that are recruited in different temporal contexts of the interference from a previous cognitive set.

Neural Correlates of Impulse Control During Stop Signal Inhibition in Cocaine-Dependent Men

“…On the other hand, the two regressions (dmFC vs SSRT and rACC vs SSRT) were not significantly different in the current work, indicating that the suggested functional differentiation between the two brain regions is merely descriptive and needs to be confirmed in a larger cohort of subjects. Further studies are also warranted to examine whether rACC activity during stop signal inhibition can be generalized beyond the current behavioral task and whether rACC is similarly compromised in PCD during other executive control functions such as those that can be decomposed in the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task (Konishi et al, 2005;Lie et al, 2006).…”

The task rule congruency effect in task switching reflects activated long-term memory.

“…According to the biasing hypothesis, the prefrontal cortex is the brain region that controls the activated LTM. Evidence for biasing comes from task-switching studies (Konishi et al, 2003(Konishi et al, , 2005Mayr, Diedrichsen, Ivry, & Keele, 2005) as well as from tasks requiring controlled memory retrieval (Sakai & Passingham, 2004; for reviews, see Bunge, 2004;Miller & Cohen, 2001).…”

Prefrontal Set Activity Predicts Rule-Specific Neural Processing during Subsequent Cognitive Performance

“…In contrast to the rather phasic involvement of this area in reconfiguring task sets, the frontopolar cortex may exert a tonic influence over the task performance by maintaining task sets. In fact, it has been shown that the FPC is involved in sustained cognitive control during task switching (Braver et al, 2003) or in resolution of prolonged proactive interference from a previous cognitive set in the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (Konishi et al, 2005).…”