Abstract
Complex cognitive tasks such as mental arithmetic heavily rely on intact, well-coordinated prefrontal cortex (PFC) function. Converging evidence suggests that frontal midline theta (FMT) oscillations play an important role during the execution of such PFC-dependent tasks. Additionally, it is well-established that acute stress impairs PFC function, and recent evidence suggests that FMT is decreased under stress. In this EEG study, we investigated FMT oscillations during a mental arithmetic task that was carried out in a stressful and a neutral control condition. Our results show late-onset, sustained FMT increases during mental arithmetic. In the neutral condition FMT started to increase earlier than in the stress condition. Direct comparison of the conditions quantified this difference by showing stronger FMT increases in the neutral condition in an early time window. Between-subject correlation analysis showed that attenuated FMT under stress was related to slowed reaction times. Our results suggest that FMT is associated with stimulus independent mental processes during the natural and complex PFC-dependent task of mental arithmetic, and is a possible marker for intact PFC function that is disrupted under stress.
Highlights
The execution of complex cognitive tasks strongly depends on prefrontal cortex (PFC) function, and its network connections to other brain regions (Miller and Cohen, 2001)
Functional interpretations tend to focus on subsets of the described phenomena, such as cognitive control processes (Cavanagh and Frank, 2014), or processes related to memory function (Hsieh and Ranganath, 2014)
It has been observed in a broad range of cognitive tasks that require the allocation of attentional resources, and close relationship between event-related potentials (ERP), such as the error-related negativity (ERN) and evoked frontal midline theta (FMT) oscillations has been reported (Trujillo and Allen, 2007; van Driel et al, 2012)
Summary
The execution of complex cognitive tasks strongly depends on prefrontal cortex (PFC) function, and its network connections to other brain regions (Miller and Cohen, 2001). It has been suggested that FMT oscillations might provide a mechanism by which the need for cognitive control is first realized, and communicated to other brain regions (Cavanagh and Frank, 2014) This type of FMT is usually phase-locked to the presented stimulus (evoked oscillations), and of transient nature. It has been observed in a broad range of cognitive tasks that require the allocation of attentional resources, and close relationship between event-related potentials (ERP), such as the error-related negativity (ERN) and evoked FMT oscillations has been reported (Trujillo and Allen, 2007; van Driel et al, 2012). The evoked response was present in all task conditions that required focused attention, and was absent only in a passive viewing condition
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