Faculty Collaboration Database

Activity and functional connectivity of inferior frontal cortex associated with response conflict. Brain Res Cogn Brain Res 2005 Jul;24(2):335-42

Date

07/05/2005

Pubmed ID

15993771

DOI

10.1016/j.cogbrainres.2005.02.015

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-21544481189 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   54 Citations

Abstract

The traditional Stroop test of cognitive interference requires overt speech responses. One alternative, the counting Stroop, generates cognitive interference similar to the traditional Stroop test but allows button press responses. Previous counting Stroop studies have used concrete words in the control condition, which may have masked inferior frontal activation. We studied 7 healthy young adults using fMRI on a counting Stroop condition, with a nonlinguistic control condition (geometric shapes). As expected, we found activation in bilateral inferior frontal gyri, as well as in lateral and medial prefrontal, inferior parietal, and extrastriate cortices. Additional functional connectivity analyses using inferior frontal activation clusters (right area 44, left area 47) as seed volumes showed connectivity with superior frontal area 8 and anterior cingulate gyrus, suggesting that the role of inferior frontal cortex was related to response conflict and inhibition. Connectivity with left perisylvian language areas was not observed, which further underscores the nonlinguistic nature of inferior frontal activity. We conclude that bilateral inferior frontal cortex is involved in response suppression associated with interference in the counting Stroop task.

Author List

Kemmotsu N, Villalobos ME, Gaffrey MS, Courchesne E, Müller RA

Author

Michael S. Gaffrey PhD Associate Professor in the Pediatrics department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Adult
Brain Mapping
Echo-Planar Imaging
Female
Frontal Lobe
Functional Laterality
Humans
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Neuropsychological Tests
Oxygen
Photic Stimulation
Psychomotor Performance
Time Factors