Inhibitory control and trait aggression: Neural and behavioral insights using the emotional stop signal task

Abstract

Deficits in response inhibition and heightened impulsivity have been linked to psychiatric disorders and aggression. They have been investigated in clinical groups as well as individuals with trait characteristics, yielding insights into the underlying neural and behavioral mechanisms of response inhibition and impulsivity. The motor inhibition tasks employed in most studies, however, have lacked an emotional component, which is crucial given that both response inhibition and impulsivity attain salience within a socio-emotional context. For this fMRI study, we selected a group with high trait aggression (HA, n=17) and one with low trait aggression (LA, n=16) from 550 males who had completed an Aggression Questionnaire. Neural activation was compared to an emotional version (including angry and neutral faces) of the stop signal task. Behavioral results revealed impaired response inhibition in HA, associated with higher motor impulsivity. This was accompanied by attenuated activation in brain regions involved in response inhibition, including the pre-supplementary motor area (SMA) and motor cortex. Together, these findings offer evidence that a reduced inhibition capacity is present in HA. Notably, response inhibition improved during anger trials in both groups, suggesting a facilitation effect through heightened activation in the related brain regions. In both groups, inclusion of the anger stimuli enhanced the activation of the motor and somatosensory areas, which modulate executive control, and of limbic regions including the amygdala. In summary, the investigation of response inhibition in individuals with high and low trait characteristics affords useful insights into the underlying distinct processing mechanisms. It can contribute to the investigation of trait markers in a clinical context without having to deal with the complex mechanisms of a clinical disorder itself. In contrast, the mechanisms of emotional response inhibition did not differ between groups. Hence, the specific emotional influence is not interacting with trait aggression.