scholarly journals Pushing to the Limits: What Processes during Cognitive Control Are Enhanced by Reaction-Time Feedback?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Astrid Prochnow ◽  
Moritz Mückschel ◽  
Christian Beste
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Primary Motor Cortex ◽  
Time Window ◽  
Response Selection ◽  
Response Speed ◽  
Posterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Selection Processes ◽  
Statistical Effect ◽  
Neural Processes ◽  
Eeg Data

Abstract To respond as quickly as possible in a given task is a widely used instruction in cognitive neuroscience, however, the neural processes modulated by this common experimental procedure remain largely elusive. We investigated the underlying neurophysiological processes combining EEG signal decomposition (residue iteration decomposition, RIDE) and source localization. We show that trial-based response speed instructions enhance behavioral performance in conflicting trials, but slightly impair performance in non-conflicting trials. The modulation seen in conflicting trials was found at several coding levels in EEG data using RIDE. In the S-cluster N2 time window, this modulation was associated with modulated activation in the posterior cingulate cortex and the superior frontal gyrus. Further, in the C-cluster P3 time window, this modulation was associated with modulated activation in the middle frontal gyrus. Interestingly, in the R-cluster P3 time window this modulation was strongest according to statistical effect sizes, associated with modulated activity in the primary motor cortex. Reaction-time feedback mainly modulates response motor execution processes, while attentional and response selection processes are less affected. The study underlines the importance of being aware of how experimental instructions influence the behavior and neurophysiological processes.

Functional Locus of Intensity Effects in Choice Reaction Time Tasks

2009 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 126-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piotr Jaśkowski ◽  
Izabela Szumska ◽  
Edyta Sasin
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Evoked Potentials ◽  
Response Selection ◽  
Visual Stimuli ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Auditory Stimuli ◽  
Response Choice ◽  
Selection Processes ◽  
Functional Locus ◽  
Readiness Potentials

Long reaction times (RT) paradoxically occur with extremely loud auditory stimuli ( Van der Molen & Keuss, 1979 , 1981 ) or with ultrabright and large visual stimuli ( Jaśkowski & Włodarczyk, 2006 ) when the task requires a response choice. Van der Molen and Keuss (1981 ) hypothesized that this effect results from an arousal-driven elongation of response-selection processes. We tested this hypothesis using visual stimuli and chronopsychophysiological markers. The results showed that the latency of both early (P1 recorded at Oz) and late (P300) evoked potentials decreased monotonically with intensity. In contrast, the latency of stimulus-locked lateralized readiness potentials (LRP) abruptly increased for the most intense stimuli, thus mirroring the reaction time–intensity relationship. Response-locked LRPs revealed no dependency on intensity. These findings suggest that the processes responsible for the van der Molen-Keuss effect influence processing stages that are completed before the onset of LRP. The van der Molen-Keuss effect likely occurs later than those represented by early sensory potentials. This is in keeping with the hypothesis of van der Molen-Keuss.

The accessory Simon effect within and across visual dimensions

2018 ◽  
Vol 72 (5) ◽  
pp. 981-993
Author(s):  
Hagit Magen
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Simon Effect ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Response Selection ◽  
Simon Task ◽  
Spatial Location ◽  
Selection Processes ◽  
Action Model ◽  
Feature Information ◽  
Spatial Locations

The Dimension-Action model maintains that response selection in the visual system is modular, such that response selection based on a target’s feature occurs within modules. This study suggests that response selection processes based on a target’s spatial location occur within modules as well, where spatial locations are coded along with the feature information. From this perspective, the typical Simon effect, in which interference occurs between a target’s feature and its spatial location, occurs within modules. This study explored whether the unique characteristic of the spatial Simon, namely, its reduction with increased reaction time is typical of spatial intra-dimension but not of spatial cross-dimension Simon effects, using the accessory Simon task. Experiment 1 demonstrated that intra-dimension Simon effects were reduced with increased reaction time, a reduction that was modulated by the task relevance of the distractor. In contrast, cross-dimension accessory Simon effects were positive and increased with reaction time. Experiment 2 demonstrated that intra-dimension Simon effects were not reduced when space was conveyed symbolically by arrows. Overall, the study suggests that interference in the accessory Simon task is influenced not only by the nature of the irrelevant spatial information but also by the modular locus of the targets and distractors.

Response-Selection Processes in Paranoid and Nonparanoid Schizophrenia

1977 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 499-505 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard W. J. Neufeld
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Choice Reaction Time ◽  
Response Selection ◽  
Reaction Time Task ◽  
Choice Reaction Time Task ◽  
Time Task ◽  
Selection Processes ◽  
Crt Response

Previous research (Marshall, 1973) has shown that the most pronounced component of deficit on a choice reaction time task among a mixed schizophrenic sample involved response-selection processes. Other evidence has indicated that paranoids may be more deficient in this respect than nonparanoids. Hence, it was hypothesized that the former subgroup of schizophrenics would display response-selection deficit while the latter subgroup would display either less or no deficit. Response-selection processes were re-examined using the CRT paradigm with comparisons carried out among paranoid and nonparanoid schizophrenics and a group of nonschizophrenic controls. Results indicated that only the paranoid schizophrenics displayed abnormally retarded response-selection operations, the nonparanoid schizophrenics being nonsignificantly discriminable from the controls. It was suggested that past evidence of CRT response-selection deficit among mixed schizophrenics might have been attributable primarily to the performance of the paranoids, whose performance appears to be adversely affected by an increase in the number of dimensions relevant to response selection.

Prior Information in Motor and Premotor Cortex: Activity During the Delay Period and Effect on Pre-Movement Activity

2000 ◽  
Vol 84 (2) ◽  
pp. 986-1005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald J. Crammond ◽  
John F. Kalaska
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Prior Information ◽  
Primary Motor Cortex ◽  
Response Selection ◽  
Premotor Cortex ◽  
Motor Planning ◽  
Large Change ◽  
Delay Period ◽  
Short Latency ◽  
Planning Stage

In instructed-delay (ID) tasks, instructional cues provide prior information about the nature of a movement to execute after a delay. Neuronal responses in dorsal premotor cortex (PMd) during the instructed-delay period (IDP) between the CUE and subsequent GO signals are presumed to reflect early planning stages initiated by the prior information. In contrast, in multiple-choice reaction-time (RT) tasks, all motor planning and execution processes must occur after the GO signal. These assumptions predict that neuronal planning correlates recorded during the IDP of ID trials should share common features with early post-GO activity in RT trials, and that those response components need not be recapitulated after the GO signal of ID trials. These two predictions were tested by comparing activity recorded in RT and ID tasks from 503 neurons in PMd and caudal (MIc) and rostral (MIr) primary motor cortex. The incidence and strength of directionally tuned IDP activity declined progressively from PMd to MIc. The directional tuning of activity during the IDP of ID trials was more similar to that in the reaction-time epoch (RTE) of RT trials than after movement onset, especially in PMd. A modulation of post-GO activity was often observed between RT and ID trials and was confined mainly to the RTE. This effect was also most prominent in PMd. The most common change was a reduction in intensity of short-latency phasic responses to the GO signal between RT and ID trials, especially in PMd cells with a short-latency phasic response to CUE signals. However, the largest group of cells in each area showed no large change in peak RTE activity between RT and ID trials, whether they were active in the IDP or not. Since early phasic CUE-related responses are least likely to be recapitulated after the GO signal in ID trials, they may be a neuronal correlate of an early planning stage such as response selection. Tonic IDP responses, which are not as strongly associated with a post-GO reduction in activity, may be related to other aspects of motor planning and preparation. Finally, a major component of the movement-related activity in both MI and PMd is not susceptible to modification by prior information and is indivisibly coupled temporally to movement execution.

Neuroticism and Speed-Accuracy Tradeoff in Self-Paced Speeded Mental Addition and Comparison

2010 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 130-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hagen C. Flehmig ◽  
Michael B. Steinborn ◽  
Karl Westhoff ◽  
Robert Langner
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Response Speed ◽  
Time Variability ◽  
Reaction Time Variability ◽  
Comparison Task ◽  
Processing Efficiency ◽  
Mental Addition ◽  
Speed Accuracy ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Accuracy Tradeoff

Previous research suggests a relationship between neuroticism (N) and the speed-accuracy tradeoff in speeded performance: High-N individuals were observed performing less efficiently than low-N individuals and compensatorily overemphasizing response speed at the expense of accuracy. This study examined N-related performance differences in the serial mental addition and comparison task (SMACT) in 99 individuals, comparing several performance measures (i.e., response speed, accuracy, and variability), retest reliability, and practice effects. N was negatively correlated with mean reaction time but positively correlated with error percentage, indicating that high-N individuals tended to be faster but less accurate in their performance than low-N individuals. The strengthening of the relationship after practice demonstrated the reliability of the findings. There was, however, no relationship between N and distractibility (assessed via measures of reaction time variability). Our main findings are in line with the processing efficiency theory, extending the relationship between N and working style to sustained self-paced speeded mental addition.

Contribution of the Premotor Cortex to Consolidation of Motor Sequence Learning in Humans During Sleep

2010 ◽  
Vol 104 (5) ◽  
pp. 2603-2614 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A. Nitsche ◽  
Michaela Jakoubkova ◽  
Nivethida Thirugnanasambandam ◽  
Leonie Schmalfuss ◽  
Sandra Hullemann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Rem Sleep ◽  
Sequence Learning ◽  
Memory Consolidation ◽  
Primary Motor Cortex ◽  
Premotor Cortex ◽  
Reaction Time Task ◽  
Motor Memory ◽  
Motor Sequence

Motor learning and memory consolidation require the contribution of different cortices. For motor sequence learning, the primary motor cortex is involved primarily in its acquisition. Premotor areas might be important for consolidation. In accordance, modulation of cortical excitability via transcranial DC stimulation (tDCS) during learning affects performance when applied to the primary motor cortex, but not premotor cortex. We aimed to explore whether premotor tDCS influences task performance during motor memory consolidation. The impact of excitability-enhancing, -diminishing, or placebo premotor tDCS during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep on recall in the serial reaction time task (SRTT) was explored in healthy humans. The motor task was learned in the evening. Recall was performed immediately after tDCS or the following morning. In two separate control experiments, excitability-enhancing premotor tDCS was performed 4 h after task learning during daytime or immediately before conduction of a simple reaction time task. Excitability-enhancing tDCS performed during REM sleep increased recall of the learned movement sequences, when tested immediately after stimulation. REM density was enhanced by excitability-increasing tDCS and reduced by inhibitory tDCS, but did not correlate with task performance. In the control experiments, tDCS did not improve performance. We conclude that the premotor cortex is involved in motor memory consolidation during REM sleep.

scholarly journals High Gamma and Beta Temporal Interference Stimulation in the Human Motor Cortex Improves Motor Functions

2022 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ru Ma ◽  
Xinzhao Xia ◽  
Wei Zhang ◽  
Zhuo Lu ◽  
Qianying Wu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Motor Cortex ◽  
Primary Motor Cortex ◽  
Reaction Time Task ◽  
Promoting Effect ◽  
Motor Functions ◽  
Human Motor Cortex ◽  
Time Task ◽  
Motor Cortex Excitability ◽  
Human Motor

Background: Temporal interference (TI) stimulation is a new technique of non-invasive brain stimulation. Envelope-modulated waveforms with two high-frequency carriers can activate neurons in target brain regions without stimulating the overlying cortex, which has been validated in mouse brains. However, whether TI stimulation can work on the human brain has not been elucidated.Objective: To assess the effectiveness of the envelope-modulated waveform of TI stimulation on the human primary motor cortex (M1).Methods: Participants attended three sessions of 30-min TI stimulation during a random reaction time task (RRTT) or a serial reaction time task (SRTT). Motor cortex excitability was measured before and after TI stimulation.Results: In the RRTT experiment, only 70 Hz TI stimulation had a promoting effect on the reaction time (RT) performance and excitability of the motor cortex compared to sham stimulation. Meanwhile, compared with the sham condition, only 20 Hz TI stimulation significantly facilitated motor learning in the SRTT experiment, which was significantly positively correlated with the increase in motor evoked potential.Conclusion: These results indicate that the envelope-modulated waveform of TI stimulation has a significant promoting effect on human motor functions, experimentally suggesting the effectiveness of TI stimulation in humans for the first time and paving the way for further explorations.

Two movement-related foci in the primate cingulate cortex observed in signal-triggered and self-paced forelimb movements

1991 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 188-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Shima ◽  
K. Aya ◽  
H. Mushiake ◽  
M. Inase ◽  
H. Aizawa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cortical Neurons ◽  
Primary Motor Cortex ◽  
Motor Task ◽  
Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Posterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
The Self ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Key Press ◽  
Flexor Muscles ◽  
Hrp Method

1. Single-unit activity in the cingulate cortex of the monkey was recorded during the performance of sensorially (visual, auditory, or tactile) triggered or self-paced forelimb key press movements. 2. Microelectrodes were inserted into the broad rostrocaudal expanse of the cingulate cortex, including the upper and lower banks of the cingulate sulcus and the hemispheric medial wall of the cingulate gyrus. 3. A total of 1,042 task-related neurons were examined, the majority of which were related to the execution of the key press movements. In greater than 60% of them, the movement-related activity preceded the activity in the distal flexor muscles. 4. The movement-related neurons were distributed, in two foci, in the posterior and anterior parts of the cingulate cortex, both including the upper and lower banks of the cingulate sulcus. The posterior focus was found to largely overlap the area projecting to the forelimb area of the primary motor cortex by the use of the horseradish peroxidase (HRP) method. 5. About 40% of the cingulate cortical neurons showed equimagnitude responses during the signal-triggered and self-paced movements. The neurons exhibiting a selective or differential response to the self-paced motor task were more frequently observed in the anterior than in the posterior cingulate cortex. 6. The long-lead type of changes in activity, ranging from 500 ms to 2 s, were observed mainly before the self-paced and, much less frequently, before the triggered movements. They were particularly abundant in the anterior cingulate cortex. 7. Only a few of the neurons showed activity time-locked to the onset of the sensory signals. 8. These observations indicate that the anterior and posterior parts of the cingulate cortex are distinct entities participating in the performance of limb movements, even if the movements are simple, such as those in this study.

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