Folding of the anterior cingulate cortex partially explains inhibitory control during childhood: A longitudinal study

AbstractChildhood adversity can negatively impact development across various domains, including physical and mental health. Adverse childhood experiences have been linked to aggression and substance use; however, developmental pathways to explain these associations are not well characterized. Understanding early precursors to later problem behavior and substance use can inform preventive interventions. The aim of the current study was to examine neurobiological pathways through which childhood adversity may lead to early adolescent problem behavior and substance use in late adolescence by testing two prospective models. Our first model found that early adolescent externalizing behavior mediates the association between childhood adversity and alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use in late adolescence. Our second model found that activation in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) during an inhibitory control task mediates the association between childhood adversity and early adolescent externalizing behavior, with lower ACC activation associated with higher levels of adversity and more externalizing behavior. Together these findings indicate that the path to substance use in late adolescence from childhood adversity may operate through lower functioning in the ACC related to inhibitory control and externalizing behavior. Early life stressors should be considered an integral component in the etiology and prevention of early and problematic substance use.

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Childhood trauma moderates inhibitory control and anterior cingulate cortex activation during stress

NeuroImage ◽

10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.10.049 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 185 ◽

pp. 111-118 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Zu Wei Zhai ◽

Sarah W. Yip ◽

Cheryl M. Lacadie ◽

Rajita Sinha ◽

Linda C. Mayes ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Anterior Cingulate Cortex ◽

Childhood Trauma ◽

Inhibitory Control ◽

Cingulate Cortex ◽

Anterior Cingulate

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Anterior Cingulate Cortex Signals the Need to Control Intrusive Thoughts During Motivated Forgetting

10.1101/2021.08.10.455844 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Maité Crespo García ◽

Yulin Wang ◽

Mojun Jiang ◽

Michael Anderson ◽

Xu Lei

Keyword(s):

Anterior Cingulate Cortex ◽

Inhibitory Control ◽

Effective Connectivity ◽

Cingulate Cortex ◽

Blood Oxygen Level Dependent ◽

Anterior Cingulate ◽

Reactive Control ◽

Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex ◽

Dynamic Interactions ◽

Hippocampal Activity

How do people limit awareness of unwanted memories? Evidence suggests that when unwelcome memories intrude, a retrieval stopping process engages the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (rDLPFC; Michael C. Anderson et al., 2004) to inhibit hippocampal activity (Benoit & Anderson, 2012; Benoit, Hulbert, Huddleston, & Anderson, 2015; Gagnepain, Hulbert, & Anderson, 2017) and disrupt retrieval. It remains unknown how and when the need to engage prefrontal control is detected, and whether control operates proactively to prevent an unwelcome memory from being retrieved, or must respond reactively, to counteract its intrusion. We hypothesized that dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) achieves this function by detecting signals indicating that an unwanted trace is emerging in awareness, and transmitting the need for inhibitory control to right DLPFC (Alexander & Brown, 2011; Botvinick, Braver, Barch, Carter, & Cohen, 2001). During a memory suppression task, we measured trial-by-trial variations in dACC's theta power and N2 amplitude, two electroencephalographic (EEG) markers of the need for enhanced control (Cavanagh & Frank, 2014). With simultaneous EEG-fMRI recordings, we tracked dynamic interactions between the dACC, rDLPFC and hippocampus during suppression. EEG analyses revealed a clear role of dACC in detecting the need for memory control, and in upregulating prefrontal inhibition. Importantly, we identified dACC contributions before episodic retrieval could have occurred (500 ms) and afterwards, indicating distinct proactive and reactive control signalling. Stronger proactive control by the dACC led to reduced hippocampal activity and diminished overall blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal in dACC and rDLPFC, suggesting that pre-empting retrieval early reduced overall control demands. However, when dACC activity followed the likely onset of recollection, retrieval was cancelled reactively: effective connectivity analyses revealed robust communication from dACC to rDLPFC and from rDLPFC to hippocampus, tied to successful forgetting. Together, our findings support a model in which dACC detects the emergence of unwanted content, triggering top-down inhibitory control, and in which rDLPFC countermands intruding thoughts that penetrate awareness.

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Abnormalities in the anterior cingulate cortex associated with attentional and inhibitory control deficits: A neurophysiological study on children with autism spectrum disorders

Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders ◽

10.1016/j.rasd.2010.04.007 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 254-266 ◽

Cited By ~ 29

Author(s):

Agnes S. Chan ◽

Yvonne M.Y. Han ◽

Winnie Wing-man Leung ◽

Connie Leung ◽

Virginia C.N. Wong ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Autism Spectrum Disorders ◽

Anterior Cingulate Cortex ◽

Inhibitory Control ◽

Children With Autism ◽

Cingulate Cortex ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Anterior Cingulate ◽

Neurophysiological Study ◽

Spectrum Disorders

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Aberrant Functional Connectivity between Reward and Inhibitory Control Networks in Pre-Adolescent Binge Eating Disorder

10.1101/2021.10.06.463386 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Stuart B. Murray ◽

Celina Alba ◽

Christina J. Duval ◽

Jason M. Nagata ◽

Ryan P. Cabeen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Eating Disorder ◽

Functional Connectivity ◽

Binge Eating ◽

Anterior Cingulate Cortex ◽

Inhibitory Control ◽

Binge Eating Disorder ◽

Orbitofrontal Cortex ◽

Cingulate Cortex ◽

Anterior Cingulate ◽

Control Networks

AbstractBackgroundBehavioral features of binge eating disorder (BED) suggest abnormalities in reward and inhibitory control. Studies of adult populations suggest functional abnormalities in reward and inhibitory control networks. Despite behavioral markers often developing in children, the neurobiology of pediatric BED remains unstudied.Methods58 pre-adolescent children (aged 9-10-years) with BED and 66 age, BMI and developmentally-matched control children were extracted from the 3.0 baseline (Year 0) release of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study. We investigated group differences in resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) functional connectivity (FC) within and between reward and inhibitory control networks. A seed-based approach was employed to assess nodes in the reward (orbitofrontal cortex, nucleus accumbens, amygdala) and inhibitory control (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex) networks via hypothesis-driven seed-to- seed analyses, and secondary seed-to-voxel analyses.ResultsOur findings revealed reduced FC between the dlPFC and amygdala, and between the anterior cingulate cortex and orbitofrontal cortex in pre-adolescent children with BED, relative to age, gender, BMI and developmentally matched controls. These findings indicating aberrant connectivity between nodes of inhibitory control and reward networks were corroborated by the whole-brain FC analyses.ConclusionsEarly-onset BED may be characterized by diffuse abnormalities in the functional synergy between reward and cognitive control networks, without perturbations within reward and inhibitory control networks, respectively. The decreased capacity to regulate a reward-driven pursuit of hedonic foods, which is characteristic of BED, may in part, rest on this dysconnectivity between reward and inhibitory control networks.

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