Endogenous vs. exogenous action inhibition: a TMS-EEG study

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Endogenous vs. exogenous action inhibition: a TMS-EEG study Stefania Ficarella1, 2* and Lorella Battelli2 1 University of Trento, Italy 2 Italian Institute of Technology, Center for Neuroscience and Cognitive Systems, Italy Inhibitory control, a crucial aspect of executive functions, is directly involved in the inhibition of unwanted responses. Action inhibition can be triggered by an external stimulus (exogenously) or by endogenous factors. While the exogenous inhibition of actions has been extensively studied, less is known about the endogenous inhibition of actions. Specifically, it is still unclear whether there is one brain circuit devoted to action inhibition, or whether separate circuits are responsible for the two types of inhibition. This study aims to test the causal role of two brain areas, namely the dorsal fronto-median cortex (dFMC) and the right Inferior Frontal Gyrus (rIFG), respectively considered to be involved in the endogenous and exogenous inhibition of actions, when implementing the inhibition of unwanted responses. We designed a novel cognitive task to directly compare a condition asking participants to freely decide, on each trial, whether to perform an action or to inhibit it, with an exogenous inhibition condition (Go/No-Go trials). We tested 19 participants before and after 1 Hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) over dFMC, rIFG and V1. Results show a significant reduction of action inhibition after stimulation of dFMC, but not of the rIFG or V1, only when subjects could freely decide whether to act or not (endogenous condition). These results support the hypothesis of a direct involvement of the dFMC in the voluntary inhibition of actions. Furthermore, EEG data results corroborate a neurophysiological distinction between endogenous and exogenous action inhibition. This study provides evidence for the causal role of a specific brain area in voluntary action inhibition, an important feature of cognitive control. These results are relevant for the study and rehabilitation of diseases such as Parkinson'’s disease and ADHD, where some aspects of cognitive control are impaired. Keywords: cognitive control, EEG, inferior frontal gyrus, Repetitive TMS, Dorsomedial frontal cortex, action inhibition Conference: XII International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON-XII), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 27 Jul - 31 Jul, 2014. Presentation Type: Poster Topic: Cognition and Executive Processes Citation: Ficarella S and Battelli L (2015). Endogenous vs. exogenous action inhibition: a TMS-EEG study. Conference Abstract: XII International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON-XII). doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2015.217.00148 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 19 Feb 2015; Published Online: 24 Apr 2015. * Correspondence: Ms. Stefania Ficarella, University of Trento, Rovereto (TN), Italy, stefania.ficarella@unitn.it Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Stefania Ficarella Lorella Battelli Google Stefania Ficarella Lorella Battelli Google Scholar Stefania Ficarella Lorella Battelli PubMed Stefania Ficarella Lorella Battelli Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.