Emotion recognition and inhibitory control in manifest and pre-manifest Huntington’s disease: evidence from a new Stroop task

Huntington’s disease(HD)is a genetic neurodegenerative disorder that affects not only the motor but also the cognitive domain.In particular,cognitive symptoms such as impaired executive skills and deficits in recognizing other individuals’mental state may emerge many years before the motor symptoms.This study was aimed at testing two cognitive hypotheses suggested by previous research with a new Stroop task created for the purpose:1)the impairment of emotion recognition in HD is moderated by the emotions’valence,and 2)inhibitory control is impaired in HD.Forty manifest and 20 pre-manifest HD patients and their age-and gender-matched controls completed both the traditional“Stroop Color and Word Test”(SCWT)and the newly created“Stroop Emotion Recognition under Word Interference Task”(SERWIT),which consist in 120 photographs of sad,calm,or happy faces with either congruent or incongruent word interference.On the SERWIT,impaired emotion recognition in manifest HD was moderated by emotion type,with deficits being larger in recognizing sadness and calmness than in recognizing happiness,but it was not moderated by stimulus congruency.On the SCWT,six different interference scores yielded as many different patterns of group effects.Overall our results corroborate the hypothesis that impaired emotion recognition in HD is moderated by the emotions’valence,but do not provide evidence for the hypothesis that inhibitory control is impaired in HD.Further research is needed to learn more about the psychological mechanisms underlying the moderating effect of emotional valence on impaired emotion recognition in HD,and to corroborate the hypothesis that the inhibitory processes involved in Stroop tasks are not impaired in HD.Looking beyond this study,the SERWIT promises to make important contributions to disentangling the cognitive and the psychomotor aspects of neurological disorders.The research was approved by the Ethics Committee of the“Istituto Leonarda Vaccari”,Rome on January 24,2018.

A Literature Review: The Comparison Between Bilingualism and Trilingualism in Inhibitory Control

Inhibitory control is a core component of individuals’executive function.The relationship between language acquisition and inhibitory control has been a focus of interest in researches.Still,whether the trilingual have stronger inhibitory control over the bilingual just as bilingualists outperform monolinguists in inhibitory control is a controversial issue in cognitive linguistics and psychology.After searching for the existed researches both in Chinese and English concerning this topic,the authors summarize the consensuses reached nowadays.This paper also points out three reasons explaining the existed divergences,namely task differences,a subject-enrolling paradox,and definition inconsistencies.

Shifts in intrinsic neural timescale of hippocampus support the maturation of inhibitory control and working memory in youth

The intrinsic neural timescale(INT)provides temporal windows in brain activity that process information of different durations,crucial for the integration and segregation of external inputs and ultimately shaping cognition and behavior.Recent research has uncovered a pronounced INT hierarchy along the adult hippocampus's longaxis.Yet,the development of INT organization within the hippocampus—particularly the pattern of its hierarchical structure and its impact on cognitive development—has not been thoroughly investigated in youth.Here,we discovered that the INT distribution in youth presents a distinct hierarchical structure along both posterioranterior and proximal-distal axes of the hippocampus.Strikingly,this hierarchical structure correlates signifi-cantly with the first principal gradient of the hippocampal-cortical functional connectome and the thickness of hippocampal grey matter.Furthermore,we observed notable changes in the hippocampal INT landscape during youth,characterized by a general narrowing of timescales,alongside dedifferentiation along the hippocampal organizational axes.These maturational changes significantly link to improvements in inhibitory control and working memory performance.Collectively,our findings reveal the developmental patterns of temporal integration and segregation hierarchies within hippocampus,and highlights the profound significance of INT as a neural underpinning that orchestrates cognitive growth.

Neural substrates of behavioral inhibitory control during the two-choice oddball task:functional neuroimaging evidence

Background:Behavioral inhibitory control(BIC)depicts a cognitive function of inhibiting inappropriate dominant responses to meet the context requirement.Despite abundant research into neural substrates of BIC during the go/no-go and stop signal tasks,these tasks were consistently shown hard to isolate neural processes of response inhibition,which is of primary interest,from those of response generation.Therefore,it is necessary to explore neural substrates of BIC using the two-choice oddball(TCO)task,whose design of dual responses is thought to produce an inhibition effect free of the confounds of response generation.Objective:The current study aims at depicting neural substrates of performing behavioral inhibitory control in the two-choice oddball task,which designs dual responses to balance response generation.Also,neural substrates of performing BIC during this task are compared with those in the go/no-go task,which designs a motor response in a single condition.Methods:The present study integrated go/no-go(GNG)and TCO tasks into a new Three-Choice BIC paradigm,which consists of stan-dard(75%),deviant(12.5%),and no-go(12.5%)conditions simultaneously.Forty-eight college students participated in this experiment,which required them to respond to standard(frequent)and deviant stimuli by pressing different keys,while inhibiting motor response to no-go stimuli.Conjunction analysis and ROI(region of interest)analysis were adopted to identify the unique neural mechanisms that subserve the processes of BIC.Results:Both tasks are effective in assessing BIC function,reflected by the significantly lower accuracy of no-go compared to standard condition in GNG,and the significantly lower accuracy and longer reaction time of deviant compared to standard condition in TCO.However,there were no significant differences between deviant and no-go conditions in accuracy.Moreover,functional neuroimaging has demonstrated that the anterior cingulate cortex(ACC)activation was observed for no-go vs.standard contrast in the GNG task,but not in deviant vs.standard contrast in the TCO task,suggesting that ACC involvement is not a necessary component of BIC.Second,ROI analysis of areas that were co-activated in TCO and GNG showed co-activations in the right inferior frontal cortex(triangle and orbital),with the signals in the TCO task significantly higher than those in the GNG task.Conclusions:These findings show that the designed responses to both standard and deviant stimuli in the TCO task,compared to the GNG task,produced a more prominent prefrontal inhibitory processing and extinguished an unnecessary component of ACC activation during BIC.This implies that prefrontal involvement,but not that of ACC,is mandatory for the successful performance of inhibiting prepotent behaviors.

The inter-relationships of the neural basis of rumination and inhibitory control:neuroimaging-based meta-analyses

Rumination,as a clinical manifestation and pathogenic factor of depression,has long been the focus of psycho-logical research regarding its causes and ameliorating approaches.Behavioral studies have shown that rumina-tion is related to inhibitory control deficits,which provides ideas for reducing it.However,the neural relationship between them has not been clearly discussed.In this study,we first used multi-level kernel density analysis to conduct two meta-analyses of published functional magnetic resonance imaging studies:one was rumination comprising 17 studies with 180 foci,and the other was inhibitory control comprising 205 studies with 3791 foci.Conjunction analysis was then performed to explore the common brain regions and further decode them through Neurosynth to confirm the cognitive specificity.Results showed that rumination was mainly related to the default mode network(DMN),while inhibitory control was associated with the frontoparietal network(FPN).In addition,the common activation areas were mainly concentrated in the bilateral precuneus,right supe-rior frontal gyrus,bilateral median cingulate,paracingulate gyri,and the left triangular part of inferior frontal gyrus(IFG).Decoding results also revealed they were involved in inhibition,memory retrieval,and self-related processes.Our findings support that rumination is associated with inhibitory control and can be explained neu-rologically by an antagonistic relationship between the DMN and FPN.In sum,inhibitory control may be related to rumination via inhibiting task-unrelated attention and controlling self-related processing.This research will help us understand and predict rumination from the perspective of inhibitory control and reduce rumination through behavioral training of inhibitory control or the application of neuromodulation techniques to common activation regions.

Effect of exercise on inhibitory control is dose-dependent for adolescents

Adolescence is an important stage for brain maturation.To investigate the effect of different exercise doses on inhibitory control in adolescents aged 12 to 14-year old,an after-school exercise program was offered 5 days per week for 12 weeks during a school semester.Thirsty-four adolescents(17 boys)from the first six classes were randomly divided into low-dose exercise group(LE group,one 30-min aerobic exercise bout per day,n=16)and high-dose exercise group(HE group,two 30-min aerobic exercise bouts per day,n=18),while 23 adolescents(10 boys)in the control group(CON,zero 30-min exercise bout,n=23)were from the last two classes.All the participants in different classes received the same physical education with the same contents,duration,and intensity at class.All the participants completed flanker tests and cardiorespiratory tests before and after exercise intervention.The HE group showed more significant improvements on inhibitory control and VO_(2peak)than CON(p<0.05).Changes in physical activity(PA)were significantly correlated with changes in interference scores(Spearman rho=-0.30,p<0.05),VO_(2peak)(Spearman rho=0.31,p<0.05),and BF percentage(Spearman rho=-0.32,p<0.05).This study demonstrated that effect of exercise on inhibitory control in adolescents is dose-dependent,which highlights the need to focus on the exercise dose in daily life for improving cognition among adolescents.

Is transcranial direct current stimulation a potential method for improving response inhibition?

Inhibitory control of movement in motor learning requires the ability to suppress an inappropriate action, a skill needed to stop a planned or ongoing motor response in response to changes in a variety of environments. This study used a stop-signal task to determine whether transcranial direct-current stimulation over the pre-supplementary motor area alters the reaction time in motor inhibition. Forty healthy subjects were recruited for this study and were randomly assigned to either the transcranial direct-current stimulation condition or a sham-transcranial direct-current stimulation condition. All subjects consecutively performed the stop-signal task before, during, and after the delivery of anodal transcranial direct-current stimulation over the pre-supplementary motor area （pre-transcranial direct-current stimulation phase, transcranial direct-current stimulation phase, and post-transcranial direct-current stimulation phase）. Compared to the sham condition, there were significant reductions in the stop-signal processing times during and after transcranial direct-current stimulation, and change times were significantly greater in the transcranial direct-current stimulation condition. There was no significant change in go processing-times during or after transcranial direct-current stimulation in either condition. Anodal transcranial direct-current stimulation was feasibly coupled to an interactive improvement in inhibitory control. This coupling led to a decrease in the stop-signal process time required for the appropriate responses between motor execution and inhibition. However, there was no transcranial direct-current stimulation effect on the no-signal reaction time during the stop-signal task. Transcranial direct-current stimulation can adjust certain behaviors, and it could be a useful clinical intervention for patients who have difficulties with response inhibition.

Novel computerized psychometric tests as primary screening tools for the diagnosis of minimal hepatic encephalopathy

Minimal hepatic encephalopathy(MHE)is a critical neurocognitive complication of decompensated liver cirrhosis and portosystemic shunting,which results in a wide range of cognitive deficits including impairments in working attention,psychomotor speed,and executive function.Current guidelines have recommended paper-and-pencil psychometric tests for the diagnosis of MHE.Most high-risk cirrhotic patients are required to be examined;however,paperand-pencil psychometric tests are neither convenient nor rapid to perform in the clinic.Recently,novel computerized psychometric tests,including the inhibitory control test,EncephalApp Stroop App,and critical flicker frequency,have been proven to be rapid,effective,and convenient methods for screening MHE in clinical practice and for identifying high-risk cirrhotic patients for further validation using rigid neuropsychometric examinations.However,diagnostic accuracy of these tests is influenced by educational background,age,and cultural differences.This review summarizes clinical evidence of the application of novel computerized psychometric tests for screening MHE.

Behavioral and Neural Enhancing Effects of a Summer Treatment Program in Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Deficiency in executive functioning is a core symptom of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The brain part responsible for executive functions is the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Although drug-based interventions can improve PFC activity, reports on PFC activity being improved by behavioral treatment are lacking. We evaluated whether a summer treatment program (STP) administering comprehensive behavioral treatment would increase PFC activity in children with ADHD. We examined behavioral and neural changes in 20 children before and after the STP, conducted over a 2-week period. We asked the parents/guardians to complete the Swanson, Nolan, and Pelham IV scale to assess severity of ADHD. The main task evaluating executive control was the reverse Stroop task. To examine changes in physiological indices, we used near-infrared spectroscopy to measure changes in PFC activity. Subjective assessments by parents/guardians indicated that ADHD symptoms improved significantly. There was also significant improvement in the number of correct responses and interference rates in the reverse Stroop task. Furthermore, post-intervention PFC activity was significantly higher. These results suggest that the STP improved inhibitory control in executive function, which is considered as a key symptom of ADHD. The increase in PFC activity further suggests that the STP improves cognition through neural function.

Characterizing motor impulsivity of individuals classified as overweight to obese

Deficits in the impulse control system are an important predictor of energy intake and body weight.Adults classified as overweight to obese may possess these deficits as a general behavioral trait or they may be foodspecific.The present study assessed motor impulsivity(ability to suppress a pre-potent response)when presented with food and neutral(non-food)cues,testing if deficits in motor impulsivity is specific to food cues or a general trait among participants classified as overweight to obese.The proportion of inhibitory failures to no-go targets following food cues(10.8%)was significantly greater than the proportion of inhibitory failures to no-go targets following neutral cues(1.9%,p<0.001).These differences remained when covering for sex and hunger.This indicates deficits in food-specific impulse control(as opposed to general impulse control)are present in those classified as overweight to obese.Understanding the specific aspect of impulse control that is present in this population is needed for the development of future impulse control training interventions that seek to change eating behaviors as a means for weight control.