Compuationl model of the flanker task in pathological aging

The emotional basis of cognitive control has been investigated in the flanker task with various procedures and materials across different studies. The present study examined the issue with the same flanker task but with different types of emotional stimuli and design. In seven experiments, the flanker effect and its sequential modulation according to the preceding trial type were assessed. Experiments 1 and 2 used affective pictures and emotional facial expressions as emotional stimuli, and positive and negative stimuli were intermixed. There was little evidence that emotional stimuli influenced cognitive control. Experiments 3 and 4 used the same affective pictures and facial expressions, but positive and negative stimuli were separated between different participant groups. Emotional stimuli reduced the flanker effect as well as its sequential modulation regardless of valence. Experiments 5 and 6 used affective pictures but manipulated arousal and valence of stimuli orthogonally The results did not replicate the reduced flanker effect or sequential modulation by valence, nor did they show consistent effects of arousal. Experiment 7 used a mood induction technique and showed that sequential modulation was positively correlated with valence rating (the higher the more positive) but was negatively correlated with arousal rating. These results are inconsistent with several previous findings and are difficult to reconcile within a single theoretical framework, confirming an elusive nature of the emotional basis of cognitive control in the flanker task.

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Behavioral and Electrophysiological Correlates of Performance Monitoring and Development in Children and Adolescents with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Brain Sciences ◽

10.3390/brainsci10020079 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 79 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Yanni Liu ◽

Gregory L. Hanna ◽

Barbara S. Hanna ◽

Haley E. Rough ◽

Paul D. Arnold ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder ◽

Children And Adolescents ◽

Attention Deficit ◽

Child Behavior Checklist ◽

Performance Monitoring ◽

Longitudinal Design ◽

Flanker Task ◽

Developmental Trajectory ◽

Time Variability ◽

Hyperactivity Disorder

The pathophysiology of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) involves deficits in performance monitoring and adaptive adjustments. Yet, the developmental trajectory and underlying neural correlates of performance monitoring deficits in youth with ADHD remain poorly understood. To address the gap, this study recruited 77 children and adolescents with ADHD and 77 age- and gender-matched healthy controls (HC), ages 8–18 years, who performed an arrow flanker task during electroencephalogram recording. Compared to HC, participants with ADHD responded more slowly and showed larger reaction time variability (RTV) and reduced post-error slowing; they also exhibited reduced error-related negativity (ERN) and error positivity effects, and reduced N2 and P3 congruency effects. Age effects were observed across groups: with increasing age, participants responded faster, with less variability, and with increased post-error slowing. They also exhibited increased ERN effects and increased N2 and P3 congruency effects. Increased RTV and reduced P3 amplitude in incongruent trials were associated with increased ADHD Problems Scale scores on the Child Behavior Checklist across groups. The altered behavioral and ERP responses in ADHD are consistent with the pattern associated with younger age across groups. Further research with a longitudinal design may determine specific aspects of developmental alteration and deficits in ADHD during performance monitoring.

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Age Moderates the Association of Aerobic Exercise with Initial Learning of an Online Task Requiring Cognitive Control

Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society ◽

10.1017/s1355617715000685 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 21 (10) ◽

pp. 802-815 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Patrick J. O’Connor ◽

Phillip D. Tomporowski ◽

Rodney K. Dishman

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Control ◽

Resistance Exercise ◽

Latent Class ◽

Flanker Task ◽

Linear Increase ◽

Free Play ◽

Exercise Frequency ◽

Aerobic Activity ◽

Initial Learning ◽

Increase In Accuracy

AbstractThe aim of this study was to examine whether people differed in change in performance across the first five blocks of an online flanker task and whether those trajectories of change were associated with self-reported aerobic or resistance exercise frequency according to age. A total of 8752 men and women aged 13–89 completed a lifestyle survey and five 45-s games (each game was a block of ~46 trials) of an online flanker task. Accuracy of the congruent and incongruent flanker stimuli was analyzed using latent class and growth curve modeling adjusting for time between blocks, whether the blocks occurred on the same or different days, education, smoking, sleep, caffeinated coffee and tea use, and Lumosity training status (“free play” or part of a “daily brain workout”). Aerobic and resistance exercise were unrelated to first block accuracies. For the more cognitively demanding incongruent flanker stimuli, aerobic activity was positively related to the linear increase in accuracy [B=0.577%, 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.112 to 1.25 per day above the weekly mean of 2.8 days] and inversely related to the quadratic deceleration of accuracy gains (B=−0.619% CI, −1.117 to −0.121 per day). An interaction of aerobic activity with age indicated that active participants younger than age 45 had a larger linear increase and a smaller quadratic deceleration compared to other participants. Age moderates the association between self-reported aerobic, but not self-reported resistance, exercise and changes in cognitive control that occur with practice during incongruent presentations across five blocks of a 45-s online, flanker task. (JINS, 2015, 21, 802–815)

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Selection for Action: The Medial Frontal Cortex Is an Executive Hub for Stimulus and Response Selection

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn_a_01727 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-28

Author(s):

Dariusz Asanowicz ◽

Bartłomiej Panek ◽

Ilona Kotlewska

Keyword(s):

Functional Connectivity ◽

Frontal Cortex ◽

Phase Synchronization ◽

Visual Stimulation ◽

Response Selection ◽

Flanker Task ◽

Medial Frontal Cortex ◽

Conflict Condition ◽

Underlying Processes ◽

Selection For Action

Abstract This EEG study investigates the electrophysiological activity underlying processes of stimulus and response selection, and their executive orchestration via long-range functional connectivity under conflict condition, in order to shed more light on how these brain dynamics shape individual behavioral performance. Participants (n = 91) performed a modified flanker task, in which bilateral visual stimulation and a bimanual response pattern were employed to isolate the stimulus and response selection-related lateralized activity. First, we identified conflict-related markers of task-relevant processes; most importantly, the stimulus and response selection were evidenced by contra–ipsilateral differences in visual and motor activity, respectively, and executive control was evidenced by modulations of midfrontal activity. Second, we identified conflict-related functional connectivity between midfrontal and other task-relevant areas. The results showed that interregional phase synchronization in theta band was centered at the midfrontal site, interpreted here as a “hub” of executive communication. Importantly, the theta functional connectivity was more robust under the condition of increased demands for stimulus and response selection, including connectivity between the medial frontal cortex and the lateral frontal and motor areas, as well as cross-frequency theta–alpha coupling between the medial frontal cortex and contralateral visual areas. Third, we showed that individual differences in the measured conflict-related EEG activity, particularly the midfrontal N2, theta power, and global theta connectivity, predict the behavioral efficiency in conflict resolution.

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Memory Changes in Normal and Pathological Aging

The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry ◽

10.1177/070674370805300601 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 53 (6) ◽

pp. 343-345 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Fergus IM Craik

Keyword(s):

Pathological Aging

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