Motor Response Inhibition Research Articles

Psychosis-Proneness and Neural Correlates of Self-Inhibition in Theory of Mind

Impaired Theory of Mind (ToM) has been repeatedly reported as a feature of psychotic disorders. ToM is crucial in social interactions and for the development of social behavior. It has been suggested that reasoning about the belief of others, requires inhibition of the self-perspective. We investigated the neural correlates of self-inhibition in nineteen low psychosis prone (PP) and eighteen high PP subjects presenting with subclinical features. High PP subjects have a more than tenfold increased risk of developing a schizophrenia-spectrum disorder. Brain activation was measured with functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging during a ToM task differentiating between self-perspective inhibition and belief reasoning. Furthermore, to test underlying inhibitory mechanisms, we included a stop-signal task. We predicted worse behavioral performance for high compared to low PP subjects on both tasks. Moreover, based on previous neuroimaging results, different activation patterns were expected in the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) in high versus low PP subjects in self-perspective inhibition and simple response inhibition. Results showed increased activation in left IFG during self-perspective inhibition, but not during simple response inhibition, for high PP subjects as compared to low PP subjects. High and low PP subjects showed equal behavioral performance. The results suggest that at a neural level, high PP subjects need more resources for inhibiting the self-perspective, but not for simple motor response inhibition, to equal the performance of low PP subjects. This may reflect a compensatory mechanism, which may no longer be available for patients with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders resulting in ToM impairments.

Effects of age and gender on neural networks of motor response inhibition: From adolescence to mid-adulthood

Functional inhibitory neural networks mature progressively with age. However, nothing is known about the impact of gender on their development. This study employed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the effects of age, sex, and sex by age interactions on the brain activation of 63 healthy males and females, between 13 and 38years, performing a Stop task. Increasing age was associated with progressively increased activation in typical response inhibition areas of right inferior and dorsolateral prefrontal and temporo-parietal regions. Females showed significantly enhanced activation in left inferior and superior frontal and striatal regions relative to males, while males showed increased activation relative to females in right inferior and superior parietal areas. Importantly, left frontal and striatal areas that showed increased activation in females, also showed significantly increased functional maturation in females relative to males, while the right inferior parietal activation that was increased in males showed significantly increased functional maturation relative to females. The findings demonstrate for the first time that sex-dimorphic activation patterns of enhanced left fronto-striatal activation in females and enhanced right parietal activation in males during motor inhibition appear to be the result of underlying gender differences in the functional maturation of these brain regions.

Impaired automatic and unconscious motor processes in Parkinson's disease

While it is increasingly recognized that voluntary movements are produced by an interaction between conscious and unconscious processes, the role of the latter in Parkinson's disease has received little attention to date. Here, we administered a subliminal masked prime task to 15 Parkinson's disease patients and 15 age-matched healthy elderly subjects. Compatibility effects were examined by manipulating the direction of the arrows and the interstimuli interval. Analysis of the positive compatibility effect revealed performance differences between the most and the least affected hand in Parkinson's disease patients. Additionally, patients did not show the same tendency toward a negative compatibility effect as compared to elderly controls. These novel findings provide evidence supporting the role of basal ganglia circuits in controlling the balance between automatic motor response facilitation and inhibition.

Motor Ability and Inhibitory Processes in Children With ADHD: A Neuroelectric Study

The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship between motor ability and response inhibition using behavioral and electrophysiological indices in children with ADHD. A total of 32 participants were recruited and underwent a motor ability assessment by administering the Basic Motor Ability Test-Revised (BMAT) as well as the Go/No-Go task and event-related potential (ERP) measurements at the same time. The results indicated that the BMAT scores were positively associated with the behavioral and ERP measures. Specifically, the BMAT average score was associated with a faster reaction time and higher accuracy, whereas higher BMAT subset scores predicted a shorter P3 latency in the Go condition. Although the association between the BMAT average score and the No-Go accuracy was limited, higher BMAT average and subset scores predicted a shorter N2 and P3 latency and a larger P3 amplitude in the No-Go condition. These findings suggest that motor abilities may play roles that benefit the cognitive performance of ADHD children.

Inferior Frontal Cortex Modulation with an Acute Dose of Heroin During Cognitive Control

Impairments in inhibitory control and in stimulus-driven attention are hallmarks of drug addiction and are associated with decreased activation in the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). Although previous studies indicate that the response inhibition function is impaired in abstinent heroin dependents, and that this is mediated by reduced IFG activity, it remains completely unknown whether and how an acute dose of heroin modulates IFG activity during cognitive control in heroin-dependent patients. This study investigates the acute effects of heroin administration on IFG activity during response inhibition and stimulus-driven attention in heroin-dependent patients. Using a cross-over, double-blind, placebo-controlled design, saline and heroin were administered to 26 heroin-dependent patients from stable heroin-assisted treatment, while performing a Go/No–Go event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging task to assess right IFG activity during motor response inhibition, as well as during oddball-driven attention allocation. Relative to saline, heroin significantly reduced right IFG activity during both successful response inhibition and oddball-driven attention allocation, whereas it did not change right IFG activity during response inhibition after correction for the effect of attention allocation. These heroin-induced effects were not related to changes in drug craving, state anxiety, behavioral performance, or co-consumption of psychostimulant drugs. This study demonstrates that heroin administration acutely impairs stimulus-driven attention allocation, as indicated by reduced IFG activity in response to infrequently presented stimuli, and does not specifically modulate IFG activity during response inhibition.

Influence of Alcohol Use on Neural Response to Go/No-Go Task in College Drinkers

Impaired inhibition of prepotent motor response may represent an important risk factor for alcoholism. Alcohol use may also increase impulsive behavior, including impaired response inhibition. Little is known about the brain function underlying response inhibition among college-age drinkers based on their drinking patterns, despite college-age drinkers demonstrating high rates of alcohol-use disorders. Our major objective was to compare behavior and associated brain activity measured with fMRI during a response-inhibition task in matched heavy- and light-alcohol-drinking college students. Participants were light (N=36) and heavy (N=56) drinkers, aged 18-20 years. We characterized blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) responses, while participants performed an fMRI Go/No-Go task to quantify inhibitory behavior and brain activity. Behaviorally, group performance differences were observed for Go correct-hit and No-Go false-alarm reaction times with increased reaction times in heavy compared with light drinkers. During fMRI No-Go correct rejections, light drinkers exhibited greater BOLD response than did heavy drinkers in left supplementary motor area (SMA), bilateral parietal lobule, right hippocampus, bilateral middle frontal gyrus, left superior temporal gyrus, and cingulate gyrus/anterior cingulate cortex (Brodmann area 24). Group differences in Go/No-Go-related regional activations correlated with alcohol- and impulsivity-related measures. These findings suggest that heavy alcohol drinkers may have dysfunction in brain regions underlying attention and response inhibition, leading to diminished abilities to suppress prepotent responding. The extent to which these tendencies relate to impulsive decision-making and behaviors in real-life settings and may guide intervention development warrants additional investigation.

Emotional modulation of motor response inhibition in women with borderline personality disorder: an fMRI study

Both emotion regulation and impulsivity are core aspects of borderline personality disorder (BPD) pathology. Although both problems may be combined specifically in BPD, few studies to date have investigated the emotional modulation of impulsivity in BPD. Women with BPD and matched healthy controls performed go/no-go tasks after induction of anger, joy or a neutral mood by vocally presented short stories. Dependent variables were the behavioural results and functional magnetic resonance imaging data. We included 17 women with BPD and 18 controls in our study. No behavioural group differences were found. However, patients with BPD showed stronger activation of the left amygdala and weaker activation of the subgenual anterior cingulate during anger induction than controls. Inhibition in the go/no-go task after anger induction increased activity in the left inferior frontal cortex in controls, but not in women with BPD, who, in turn, showed increased activation in the subthalamic nucleus. Findings cannot be generalized to men, and 4 patients were taking antidepressant medication (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors). In addition, no patient control group was investigated, thus we do not know whether findings are specific to BPD compared with other disorders. Our findings are consistent with the view that a disturbed amygdala-prefrontal network in patients with BPD is compensated by a subcortical loop involving the subthalamic nucleus, leading to normal behavioural inhibition in these patients.

Response inhibition in motor conversion disorder

Conversion disorders (CDs) are unexplained neurological symptoms presumed to be related to a psychological issue. Studies focusing on conversion paralysis have suggested potential impairments in motor initiation or execution. Here we studied CD patients with aberrant or excessive motor movements and focused on motor response inhibition. We also assessed cognitive measures in multiple domains. We compared 30 CD patients and 30 age-, sex-, and education-matched healthy volunteers on a motor response inhibition task (go/no go), along with verbal motor response inhibition (color-word interference) and measures of attention, sustained attention, processing speed, language, memory, visuospatial processing, and executive function including planning and verbal fluency. CD patients had greater impairments in commission errors on the go/no go task (P < .001) compared with healthy volunteers, which remained significant after Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons and after controlling for attention, sustained attention, depression, and anxiety. There were no significant differences in other cognitive measures. We highlight a specific deficit in motor response inhibition that may play a role in impaired inhibition of unwanted movement such as the excessive and aberrant movements seen in motor conversion. Patients with nonepileptic seizures, a different form of conversion disorder, are commonly reported to have lower IQ and multiple cognitive deficits. Our results point toward potential differences between conversion disorder subgroups. © 2013 Movement Disorder Society.

Neural Correlates of Treatment in Adolescents with Bipolar Depression During Response Inhibition

Abnormal prefrontal and subcortical activity during cognitive control tasks is identified in non-depressed adolescents with bipolar disorder (BD); however, little is known about the neural correlates of bipolar adolescents in a depressed state (BDd). We aimed to investigate baseline versus after-treatment patterns of neural activity underlying motor response and response inhibition in adolescents with BDd. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, 10 adolescents with BDd relative to 10 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HC) completed a well-validated go/no go block-design cognitive control task at baseline and after 6 weeks of naturalistic treatment. We used whole-brain analysis and controlled our results for multiple comparisons. There was significant improvement in depression scores (mean change: 57%±28). There was no behavioral difference in BDd baseline versus HC and after treatment. BDd adolescents relative to HC had higher baseline cortical, but not subcortical, neural activity (e.g., bilateral ventrolateral prefrontal during both the go [motor control] and the no go [response inhibition] conditions, and left superior temporal during the no go condition). However, after-treatment activity relative to baseline neural activity during response inhibition was significantly increased in subcortical (e.g., right hippocampus and left thalamus), but not cortical, regions. In addition, at baseline, lower left thalamus activity was correlated with higher depression scores. Adolescents with BDd had baseline prefrontal and temporal hyperactivity underlying motor control and response inhibition that did not change after treatment in contrast to relatively decreased baseline subcortical activity underlying response inhibition associated with the depressive state that was increased after the treatment.

Intact inhibitory control processes in abstinent drug abusers (I): A functional neuroimaging study in former cocaine addicts

Neuroimaging studies in current cocaine dependent (CD) individuals consistently reveal cortical hypoactivity across regions of the response inhibition circuit (RIC). Dysregulation of this critical executive network is hypothesized to account for the lack of inhibitory control that is a hallmark of the addictive phenotype, and chronic abuse is believed to compound the issue. A crucial question is whether deficits in this circuit persist after drug cessation, and whether recovery of this system will be seen after extended periods of abstinence, a question with implications for treatment course and outcome. Utilizing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we examined activation in nodes of the RIC in abstinent CD individuals (n = 27) and non-using controls (n = 45) while they performed a motor response inhibition task. In contrast to current users, these abstinent individuals, despite extended histories of chronic cocaine-abuse (average duration of use = 8.2 years), performed the task just as efficiently as non-users. In line with these behavioral findings, no evidence for between-group differences in activation of the RIC was found and instead, robust activations were apparent in both groups within the well-characterized nodes of the RIC. Similarly, our complementary Electroencephalography (EEG) investigation also showed an absence of behavioral and electrophysiological deficits in abstinent drug abusers. These results are consistent with an amelioration of neurobiological deficits in inhibitory circuitry following drug cessation, and could help explain how long-term abstinence is maintained. Finally, regression analyses revealed a significant association between level of activation in the right insula with inhibition success and increased abstinence duration in the CD cohort suggesting that this region may be integral to successful recovery from cocaine addiction.

Differentiating functions of the lateral and medial prefrontal cortex in motor response inhibition

The right inferior frontal gyrus is generally considered a critical region for motor response inhibition. Recent studies, however, suggest that the role of this cortical area in response inhibition may be overstated and that the contributions of other aspects of the prefrontal cortex are often overlooked. The current study used optical imaging to identify regions of the prefrontal cortex beyond the right inferior frontal gyrus which may serve to support motor response inhibition. Forty-three right-handed healthy adults completed a manual Go/No-Go task while evoked oxygenation of the prefrontal cortex was measured using 16-channel functional near-infrared spectroscopy. During motor response inhibition, the right inferior frontal gyrus, and to a lesser extent the homologous contralateral region, showed increased activation relative to a baseline task. Conversely, the medial prefrontal cortex was significantly deactivated, and the extent of reduced activity in this region was associated with fewer errors on the response inhibition task. These findings suggest a more substantial role of the left inferior frontal gyrus in response inhibition and possibly a distinct function of the middle frontal gyrus subserving error detection on manual motor control tasks.

The effect of proactive motor control on impulsive gambling and eating behaviour

Event Abstract Back to Event The effect of proactive motor control on impulsive gambling and eating behaviour Chris Chambers1* 1 Cardiff University, United Kingdom Background Response inhibition or ‘impulse control’ is a hallmark of flexible and intelligent behaviour, required whenever a thought or action must be stopped or restrained. Existing evidence suggests that linked or common mechanisms may coordinate response inhibition in multiple domains, although evidence for causal links has emerged only recently. Methods and Results I will discuss some of our recent studies that explored the causal relationship between motor response inhibition and different forms of impulsive decision-making. In a series of studies we have found that performing a stop-signal task – which induces cautious motor responding – reduced gambling in a multitask situation. We also found that a short period of inhibitory training reduced gambling at least two hours later in time. Our most recent experiments have shown that the effects of inhibition training can transfer to eating behaviour, reducing the tendency to make unhealthy choices. Discussion Overall, our findings converge with work in other labs to indicate that proactive motor control interacts strongly with decision-making. This link between different levels of cognitive control might be exploited as an adjunct to existing rehabilitation methods in addiction. Keywords: response inhibition, cognitive control, risk-taking behaviour, stop-signal task, go-nogo task, eating behaviour Conference: ACNS-2013 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Society Conference, Clayton, Melbourne, Australia, 28 Nov - 1 Dec, 2013. Presentation Type: Oral Topic: Executive Processes Citation: Chambers C (2013). The effect of proactive motor control on impulsive gambling and eating behaviour. Conference Abstract: ACNS-2013 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Society Conference. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2013.212.00190 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: 15 Oct 2013; Published Online: 25 Nov 2013. * Correspondence: Dr. Chris Chambers, Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF24 4LP, United Kingdom, sorrynotavailableatm@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 Chris Chambers Google Chris Chambers Google Scholar Chris Chambers PubMed Chris Chambers 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.

Can studies of pain help to bridge the gap between sensory and social impairments in autism?

Can studies of pain help to bridge the gap between sensory and social impairments in autism?

Accommodation and peristalsis are functional responses to obstruction in rat hypertrophic ileum

To investigate the effects of chronic obstruction on enteric reflexes evoked by electrical stimulation (EFS) or intraluminal distension of the rat hypertrophic ileum. Motor responses to EFS and to intraluminal distension were studied in the absence and in the presence of various inhibitors of enteric mediators. Ileum segments from operated (chronic ileal obstruction), sham-operated (control) and normal rats were horizontally mounted, connected to a pressure transducer and intraluminally perfused. The effects of selective serotonin receptor (5-HTR) blockers were investigated on distension-induced responses. The cellular localization of 5-HT3Rs was also examined in control and hypertrophic tissues through confocal microscopy. In non-obstructed segments, EFS elicited tetrodotoxin (TTX)-sensitive responses with high amplitude contraction followed by weak relaxation. In hypertrophic tissues, EFS lowered the baseline pressure and evoked TTX-sensitive contractions significantly larger than normal (P < 0.01) or control (P < 0.05), and devoid of any relaxation phase (P < 0.01 vs normal). Incubation with atropine and guanethidine [non-adrenergic non-cholinergic (NANC) conditions] did not modify intestinal tone in normal and control preparations, but reversed the accommodation produced by EFS in hypertrophic tissues, and depressed the amplitude of contractions in all types of tissues. L-NAME and α-chymotrypsin blocked residual NANC motility in all tissues and augmented intraluminal pressure in hypertrophic segments (P < 0.05 vs NANC conditions). Intraluminal distension of the intestinal wall evoked non-propulsive cycles of contractions and relaxations in non-obstructed tissues. In all hypertrophic segments, strong propulsive strokes, markedly wider (P < 0.001), and larger than normal (P < 0.001) or control (P < 0.05) were elicited. Both motor patterns were blocked under NANC conditions and with simultaneous incubation with L-NAME and α-chymotrypsin. In all types of tissues, incubation with ketanserin or GR125487 did not modify distension-induced motility. In contrast, blockade of 5-HT3Rs by ondansetron concentration-dependently inhibited motor responses in normal and control tissues, but only slightly impaired enteric reflexes in the hypertrophic preparations. Finally, confocal microscopy did not reveal a different cellular distribution of 5-HT3Rs in control and hypertrophic ileum. Accommodation and distension-induced peristalsis of rat hypertrophic ileum are controlled by cholinergic and peptidergic transmission and are negligibly affected by 5-HT3Rs, which modulate distension-induced motility in non-obstructed tissues.

The functional anatomy of suggested limb paralysis

Suggestions of limb paralysis in highly hypnotically suggestible subjects have been employed to successfully model conversion disorders, revealing similar patterns of brain activation associated with attempted movement of the affected limb. However, previous studies differ with regard to the executive regions involved during involuntary inhibition of the affected limb. This difference may have arisen as previous studies did not control for differences in hypnosis depth between conditions and/or include subjective measures to explore the experience of suggested paralysis. In the current study we employed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the functional anatomy of left and right upper limb movements in eight healthy subjects selected for high hypnotic suggestibility during (i) hypnosis (NORMAL) and (ii) attempted movement following additional left upper limb paralysis suggestions (PARALYSIS). Contrast of left upper limb motor function during NORMAL relative to PARALYSIS conditions revealed greater activation of contralateral M1/S1 and ipsilateral cerebellum, consistent with the engagement of these regions in the completion of movements. By contrast, two significant observations were noted in PARALYSIS relative to NORMAL conditions. In conjunction with reports of attempts to move the paralysed limb, greater supplementary motor area (SMA) activation was observed, a finding consistent with the role of SMA in motor intention and planning. The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC, BA 24) was also significantly more active in PARALYSIS relative to NORMAL conditions – suggesting that ACC (BA 24) may be implicated in involuntary, as well as voluntary inhibition of prepotent motor responses.

Neural Correlates of Successful Response Inhibition in Unmedicated Patients With Late-Life Depression

Accumulating evidence implicates a strong association between abnormal frontostriatal-limbic brain circuits, executive dysfunction, and late-life depression (LLD). The stop signal task (SST) was designed by Rubia et al. for use with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to identify the neural correlates of motor response inhibition, a well-characterized executive function. In this study, we compared brain activation between a group of unmedicated participants with LLD and an unmedicated healthy cohort during SST performance. Participants 55-85 years of age were screened, clinically evaluated, and entered into either the LLD (n = 15) or healthy comparison group (n = 13). Both groups underwent neuroimaging while performing the SST under similar conditions. The brain circuitry of successful motor inhibition was evaluated by contrasting the condition of correctly inhibiting responses with the condition of correctly responding to Go signals. Differential areas of brain activation between the LLD and comparison groups were determined with FMRIB Software Library. Despite comparable SST performance measures, LLD participants demonstrated greater blood oxygen level dependent activation relative to the comparison group in predominantly left-lateralized frontostriatal-limbic circuitry that included the bilateral superior frontal cortices and left-hemispheric orbitofrontal gyri, insular cortex, cingulate cortex, caudate, and putamen. Conversely, the healthy comparison group did not exhibit any areas of greater activation than the LLD group. Unmedicated participants with LLD activate additional areas within frontostriatal-limbic brain circuitry when performing the SST at a level comparable to a healthy cohort.

Autorégulation comportementale et apprentissages scolaires à l’école maternelle

Several recent researches in the United States and some Asian countries show that young students’ ability to regulate their behavior in learning context contributes to the quality of their school achievements and promotes their future academic success. In these studies, behavioral regulation is assessed by direct measures seeking simultaneous management of several skills: attention, working memory and inhibition of motor responses. This study examines the contribution of one such measure, the “Head to Toes” (HTT), to explain the interindividual differences in academic performance among 162 children aged 4.2 to 6.5years and and enrolled in prekindergarten or kindergarten. Pupils were evaluated in the following areas: behavioral self-regulation, math, vocabulary and first acquisitions in reading. Their non-verbal cognitive skills and their teacher-rated classroom behaviors were also included. Results showed individual differences in HTT scores, which were significantly related to early vocabulary, literacy and numeracy skills after controlling for age, sex, mother's education level, classroom level and teacher-rated classroom behaviors. This contribution was still significant when non-verbal cognitive and/or language albilities (vocabulary) were added to later control variables. This study highlights the importance of behavioral self-regulation for academic achievement in French nursery school context, confirming data from international literature.

Motivating inhibition – reward prospect speeds up response cancellation

Reward prospect has been demonstrated to facilitate various cognitive and behavioral operations, particularly by enhancing the speed and vigor of processes linked to approaching reward. Studies in this domain typically employed task regimes in which participants’ overt responses are facilitated by prospective rewards. In contrast, we demonstrate here that even the cancellation of a motor response can be accelerated by reward prospect, thus signifying reward-related benefits on restraint rather than approach behavior. Importantly, this facilitation occurred independent of strategy-related adjustments of response speed, which are known to systematically distort the estimation of response-cancellation speed. The fact that motivational factors can indeed facilitate response inhibition is not only relevant for understanding how motivation and response inhibition interact in healthy participants but also for work on various patient groups that display response-inhibition deficits, suggesting that core differences in the ability to inhibit motor responses have to be differentiated from motivational factors.

Effects of task complexity on ERP components in Go/Nogo tasks

In Go/Nogo tasks the ERP at frontocentral electrodes generally exhibit a negativity (Nogo-N2) and a subsequent positivity (Nogo-P3) after Nogo in contrast to Go stimuli. The N2 was related to central inhibition or response conflict, while the P3 is most probably related to inhibition of overt response. In an attempt to elucidate the underlying processes in more detail, the effects of task difficulty on Nogo-N2 and Nogo-P3 were investigated and compared with effects on components in the Go-ERPs and with behavior. RT and false alarms were enhanced and the Nogo-N2 and the Nogo-P3 delayed with rising task difficulty. However, the latency effects were smaller for the Nogo-N2 than for the Nogo-P3. The amplitude of the Nogo-P3 decreased with rising task difficulty but no effects on the Nogo-N2 amplitude were found.In the Go trials an early frontocentral positivity (Go-P2) and a late parietal positivity (Go-P3) were seen. The Go-P2 and Go-P3 showed again similar latency effects as RT, while the amplitudes were not affected by task difficulty. The Go-P3 peaked earlier than the Nogo-P3.The results show that Nogo-N2 and -P3 are differentially affected by the task manipulations. In particular, the Nogo-N2 reflects the inhibition of a premature response plan, which is delayed in more complex tasks, while the Nogo-P3 appears to be linked to inhibition of motor response. The Go-P2 probably reflects stimulus-response activation, which considerably influences the Nogo N2 when measured by the Nogo minus Go difference waves (N2d), whereas the Nogo-P3d solely consists of the Nogo-P3.

Electrophysiological indices of error monitoring in juvenile and adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)—A meta-analytic appraisal

Attempts to identify the central disturbed processes explaining the overt symptoms of juvenile and adult ADHD rely heavily on the concept of deficient error monitoring processes. A number of studies have investigated event-related potentials (ERPs) and behavioral performance in tasks traditionally used to probe the interference control and inhibition of motor responses. The inspection of the error negativity (Ne/ERN) and error positivity (Pe) components evoked in these tasks has produced conflicting results with respect to the nature and extent of an error monitoring deficit in ADHD. A meta-analytic aggregation of these single studies should help develop a reliable appraisal of the evidence for the compromised performance monitoring processes in ADHD.Our meta-analysis was confined to studies of adult and juvenile ADHD participants examined in GoNogo and Flanker task studies that also reported the Ne/ERN and Pe ERP components. Only seven studies were suited for the meta-analysis, but their aggregation nevertheless led to clear results: Ne was attenuated in adult and adolescent ADHD participants for both tasks, and Pe was attenuated only in the GoNogo tasks. The ADHD participants made more errors than the controls in both tasks but responded slower only in the Flanker task.To our knowledge, this meta-analysis is the first to compare electrophysiological and behavioral indices of error monitoring in adult and juvenile ADHD patients and healthy controls. Admittedly, the data available for this comparison were sparse and heterogeneous; nevertheless, this meta-analysis produced salient results that indicate a monitoring deficit as a central feature of the ADHD syndrome.