Performance errors in conflict tasks often result from inappropriate action impulses, and are thought to signal the need for increased control over the motor system. However, errors may also result ...from lapses in sustained attention, which may require different monitoring and adaptation mechanisms. Distinguishing between the mechanisms of adaptation is important as both error types may occur intermixed. To this end, we measured EEG of healthy human subjects while they performed three variants of the Simon task in which errors were more likely to occur due to attentional lapses, failures of motor control, or both. Behavioral results showed that subjects exhibited less conflict effects and less impulsive errors in sustained attention compared with the other Simon conditions. Time-frequency analyses of EEG data showed that the sustained attention Simon condition, compared with the motor control Simon condition, was characterized by: (1) less error-related MFC theta (4-8 Hz) power and an absence of error-related MFC-DLPFC theta phase synchronization; (2) stronger error-related suppression of parieto-occipital alpha (8-12 Hz) power and stronger parieto-occipital-frontal alpha synchronization. A control experiment, using SART (the Sustained Attention to Response Test), confirmed that adaptation after attentional lapses involved posterior alpha power suppression, in addition to inter-regional frontal theta activity. Together, these results suggest that at least two cortical mechanisms exist for performance monitoring, and that different tasks and task-settings can recruit these mechanisms in a different way. Post-error brain dynamics thus consist of heterogeneous activity from multiple neurocognitive processes.
Cognitive control requires the suppression of distracting information in order to focus on task-relevant information. We applied EEG source reconstruction via time-frequency linear constrained ...minimum variance beamforming to help elucidate the neural mechanisms involved in spatial conflict processing. Human subjects performed a Simon task, in which conflict was induced by incongruence between spatial location and response hand. We found an early (∼200 ms post-stimulus) conflict modulation in stimulus-contralateral parietal gamma (30-50 Hz), followed by a later alpha-band (8-12 Hz) conflict modulation, suggesting an early detection of spatial conflict and inhibition of spatial location processing. Inter-regional connectivity analyses assessed via cross-frequency coupling of theta (4-8 Hz), alpha, and gamma power revealed conflict-induced shifts in cortical network interactions: Congruent trials (relative to incongruent trials) had stronger coupling between frontal theta and stimulus-contrahemifield parietal alpha/gamma power, whereas incongruent trials had increased theta coupling between medial frontal and lateral frontal regions. These findings shed new light into the large-scale network dynamics of spatial conflict processing, and how those networks are shaped by oscillatory interactions.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Performance monitoring is a key cognitive function, allowing to detect mistakes and adapt future behavior. Post-decisional neural signals have been identified that are sensitive to decision accuracy, ...decision confidence and subsequent adaptation. Here, we review recent work that supports an understanding of late error/confidence signals in terms of the computational process of post-decisional evidence accumulation. We argue that the error positivity, a positive-going centro-parietal potential measured through scalp electrophysiology, reflects the post-decisional evidence accumulation process itself, which follows a boundary crossing event corresponding to initial decision commitment. This proposal provides a powerful explanation for both the morphological characteristics of the signal and its relation to various expressions of performance monitoring. Moreover, it suggests that the error positivity –a signal with thus far unique properties in cognitive neuroscience – can be leveraged to furnish key new insights into the inputs to, adaptation, and consequences of the post-decisional accumulation process.
Adaptive goal-directed behavior involves monitoring of ongoing actions and performance outcomes, and subsequent adjustments of behavior and learning. We evaluate new findings in cognitive ...neuroscience concerning cortical interactions that subserve the recruitment and implementation of such cognitive control. A review of primate and human studies, along with a meta-analysis of the human functional neuroimaging literature, suggest that the detection of unfavorable outcomes, response errors, response conflict, and decision uncertainty elicits largely overlapping clusters of activation foci in an extensive part of the posterior medial frontal cortex (pMFC). A direct link is delineated between activity in this area and subsequent adjustments in performance. Emerging evidence points to functional interactions between the pMFC and the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC), so that monitoring-related pMFC activity serves as a signal that engages regulatory processes in the LPFC to implement performance adjustments.
•This paper offers a novel theory of the mechanisms of Kinesthetic Motor Imagery.•KMI is proposed to involve anticipatory images of action effects.•Internal simulation of action thus facilitates ...improved motor performance.•This novel account spurs nontrivial predictions that can be tested empirically.•E.g., to improve goalkeeping performance, goalies should learn to kick penalties.
Kinesthetic Motor Imagery (KMI) is an important technique to acquire and refine motor skills. KMI is widely used by professional athletes as an effective way to improve motor performance without overt motor output. Despite this obvious relevance, the functional mechanisms and neural circuits involved in KMI in sports are still poorly understood. In the present article, which aims at bridging the sport sciences and cognitive neurophysiology literatures, we give a brief overview of relevant research in the field of KMI. Furthermore, we develop a theoretical account that relates KMI to predictive motor control theories assuming that it is based on internal activation of anticipatory images of action effects. This mechanism allows improving motor performance solely based on internal emulation of action. In accordance with previous literature, we propose that this emulation mechanism is implemented in brain regions that partially overlap with brain areas involved in overt motor performance including the posterior parietal cortex, the cerebellum, the basal ganglia and the premotor cortex. Finally, we outline one way to test the heuristic value of our theoretical framework for KMI; we suggest that experience with motor performance improves the ability to correctly infer the goals of others, in particular in penalty blocking in soccer.
Why are some individuals more susceptible to the formation of inflexible habits than others? In the present study, we used diffusion tensor imaging to demonstrate that brain connectivity predicts ...individual differences in relative goal-directed and habitual behavioral control in humans. Specifically, vulnerability to habitual "slips of action" toward no-longer-rewarding outcomes was predicted by estimated white matter tract strength in the premotor cortex seeded from the posterior putamen (as well as by gray matter density in the posterior putamen as determined with voxel-based morphometry). In contrast, flexible goal-directed action was predicted by estimated tract strength in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex seeded from the caudate. These findings suggest that integrity of dissociable corticostriatal pathways underlies individual differences in action control in the healthy population, which may ultimately mediate vulnerability to impulse control disorders.
Frontal oscillatory dynamics in the theta (4–8 Hz) and beta (20–30 Hz) frequency bands have been implicated in cognitive control processes. Here we investigated the changes in coordinated activity ...within and between frontal brain areas during feedback-based response learning. In a time estimation task, participants learned to press a button after specific, randomly selected time intervals (300–2000 msec) using the feedback after each button press (correct, too fast, too slow). Consistent with previous findings, theta-band activity over medial frontal scalp sites (presumably reflecting medial frontal cortex activity) was stronger after negative feedback, whereas beta-band activity was stronger after positive feedback. Theta-band power predicted learning only after negative feedback, and beta-band power predicted learning after positive and negative feedback. Furthermore, negative feedback increased theta-band intersite phase synchrony (a millisecond resolution measure of functional connectivity) among right lateral prefrontal, medial frontal, and sensorimotor sites. These results demonstrate the importance of frontal theta- and beta-band oscillations and intersite communication in the realization of reinforcement learning.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
To detect erroneous action outcomes is necessary for flexible adjustments and therefore a prerequisite of adaptive, goal-directed behavior. While performance monitoring has been studied intensively ...over two decades and a vast amount of knowledge on its functional neuroanatomy has been gathered, much less is known about conscious error perception, often referred to as error awareness. Here, we review and discuss the conditions under which error awareness occurs, its neural correlates and underlying functional neuroanatomy. We focus specifically on the anterior insula, which has been shown to be (a) reliably activated during performance monitoring and (b) modulated by error awareness. Anterior insular activity appears to be closely related to autonomic responses associated with consciously perceived errors, although the causality and directions of these relationships still needs to be unraveled. We discuss the role of the anterior insula in generating versus perceiving autonomic responses and as a key player in balancing effortful task-related and resting-state activity. We suggest that errors elicit reactions highly reminiscent of an orienting response and may thus induce the autonomic arousal needed to recruit the required mental and physical resources. We discuss the role of norepinephrine activity in eliciting sufficiently strong central and autonomic nervous responses enabling the necessary adaptation as well as conscious error perception.
Cognitive control allows us to adjust to environmental changes. The medial frontal cortex (MFC) is thought to detect conflicts and recruit additional resources from other brain areas including the ...lateral prefrontal cortices. Here we investigated how the MFC acts in concert with visual, motor, and lateral prefrontal cortices to support adaptations of goal-directed behavior. Physiologically, these interactions may occur through local and long-range synchronized oscillation dynamics, particularly in the theta range (4–8 Hz). A speeded flanker task allowed us to investigate conflict-type-specific control networks for perceptual and response conflicts. Theta power over MFC was sensitive to both perceptual and response conflict. Interareal theta phase synchrony, however, indicated a selective enhancement specific for response conflicts between MFC and left frontal cortex as well as between MFC and the presumed motor cortex contralateral to the response hand. These findings suggest that MFC theta-band activity is both generally involved in conflict processing and specifically involved in linking a neural network controlling response conflict.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Goal-oriented signals from the prefrontal cortex gate the selection of appropriate actions in the basal ganglia. Key nodes within this fronto-basal ganglia action regulation network are increasingly ...engaged when one anticipates the need to inhibit and override planned actions. Here, we ask how the advance preparation of action plans modulates the need for fronto-subcortical control when a planned action needs to be withdrawn. Functional magnetic resonance imaging data were collected while human participants performed a stop task with cues indicating the likelihood of a stop signal being sounded. Mathematical modeling of go trial responses suggested that participants attained a more cautious response strategy when the probability of a stop signal increased. Effective connectivity analysis indicated that, even in the absence of stop signals, the proactive engagement of the full control network is tailored to the likelihood of stop trial occurrence. Importantly, during actual stop trials, the strength of fronto-subcortical projections was stronger when stopping had to be engaged reactively compared with when it was proactively prepared in advance. These findings suggest that fronto-basal ganglia control is strongest in an unpredictable environment, where the prefrontal cortex plays an important role in the optimization of reactive control. Importantly, these results further indicate that the advance preparation of action plans reduces the need for reactive fronto-basal ganglia communication to gate voluntary actions.
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