The role of the lateral PFC in inhibitory motor control

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event The role of the lateral PFC in inhibitory motor control Ulrike Krämer1*, Anne-Kristin Solbakk2, Ingrid Funderud2, Marianne Lovstad2, Tor Endestad2 and Robert T. Knight1 1 University of California at Berkeley, United States 2 University Hospital Oslo, Norway Research on inhibitory motor control has implicated several prefrontal as well as subcortical and parietal regions in response inhibition. Yet, the exact functional role of prefrontal regions in inhibitory control, be it inhibition itself or rather attention or task-set representation, is still under debate. We investigated the influence of the lateral PFC on response inhibition by using cognitive electrophysiology in prefrontal lesion patients. Patients and age- and education-matched controls performed in a visual stop-signal task featuring lateralized stimuli, challenging either the intact or lesioned hemisphere. Participants also underwent a purely behavioral Go/Nogo task, which included a manipulation of inhibition difficulty (blocks with 50 vs. 80% go-trials). On the behavioral level, patients showed a tendency for a hemifield effect on the stop-signal reaction time (SSRT) with a slower SSRT for contra- compared to ipsilesional stimuli. Additionally, patients made more errors than controls in the Go/Nogo task, in particular in the more demanding condition. In controls, we observed after stop-stimuli an early lateralized negativity over parieto-occipital electrodes which was maximal contralateral to the visual stimulus. In the time-frequency domain, this was reflected in higher theta power and inter-trial coherence. Importantly, prefrontal patients showed a diminished negativity as well as theta power and coherence selectively over the lesioned hemisphere. Lesion patients also showed reduced frontal theta power compared to controls. The theta results can be explained with a PFC-dependent, attention-related modulation of visual processing which is diminished in patients and likely contributing to their impaired performance in the tasks. Funding: Supported by DFG Fellowship KR3691/1-1; NINDS Grants NS21135 and PO40813. Keywords: cognitive control, PFC Conference: XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI), Palma, Mallorca, Spain, 25 Sep - 29 Sep, 2011. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Poster Sessions: Performance Monitoring and Cognitive Control Citation: Krämer U, Solbakk A, Funderud I, Lovstad M, Endestad T and Knight RT (2011). The role of the lateral PFC in inhibitory motor control. Conference Abstract: XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI). doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2011.207.00249 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: 21 Nov 2011; Published Online: 28 Nov 2011. * Correspondence: Dr. Ulrike Krämer, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, United States, umkraemer@gmail.com 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 Ulrike Krämer Anne-Kristin Solbakk Ingrid Funderud Marianne Lovstad Tor Endestad Robert T Knight Google Ulrike Krämer Anne-Kristin Solbakk Ingrid Funderud Marianne Lovstad Tor Endestad Robert T Knight Google Scholar Ulrike Krämer Anne-Kristin Solbakk Ingrid Funderud Marianne Lovstad Tor Endestad Robert T Knight PubMed Ulrike Krämer Anne-Kristin Solbakk Ingrid Funderud Marianne Lovstad Tor Endestad Robert T Knight 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.