Gabriel Dippel

A causal role of the right inferior frontal cortex in implementing strategies for multi-component behaviour

Everyday activities, such as, for example, driving a car or preparing a meal, require the hierarchical organization and processing of several individual actions. Currently, the neural mechanisms underlying the control of action sequences are not well understood. Here, the authors demonstrate that the right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG) plays a key role in implementing the strategy used to cascade different actions. Continuous theta burst stimulation (TBS) applied to the rIFG results in a less efficient action cascading strategy, whereas intermittent TBS results in a more efficient strategy, compared with a shamTBS control condition. These effects are confirmed in electrophysiological data showing that activity differences in the rIFG are related to alterations in response selection processes. Overall, these results suggest that the neural dynamics of the rIFG determine the strategy used during some forms of everyday multi-component behaviour.

Concurrent information affects response inhibition processes via the modulation of theta oscillations in cognitive control networks

Inhibiting responses is a challenge, where the outcome (partly) depends on the situational context. In everyday situations, response inhibition performance might be altered when irrelevant input is presented simultaneously with the information relevant for response inhibition. More specifically, irrelevant concurrent information may either brace or interfere with response-relevant information, depending on whether these inputs are redundant or conflicting. The aim of this study is to investigate neurophysiological mechanisms and the network underlying such modulations using EEG beamforming as method. The results show that in comparison to a baseline condition without concurrent information, response inhibition performance can be aggravated or facilitated by manipulating the extent of conflict via concurrent input. This depends on whether the requirement for cognitive control is high, as in conflicting trials, or whether it is low, as in redundant trials. In line with this, the total theta frequency power decreases in a right hemispheric orbitofrontal response inhibition network including the SFG, MFG, and SMA, when concurrent redundant information facilitates response inhibition processes. Vice versa, theta activity in a left-hemispheric response inhibition network (i.e., SFG, MFG, and IFG) increases, when conflicting concurrent information compromises response inhibition processes. We conclude that concurrent information bi-directionally shifts response inhibition performance and modulates the network architecture underlying theta oscillations which are signaling different levels of the need for cognitive control.

Questioning the role of the frontopolar cortex in multi-component behavior – a TMS/EEG study

Cognitive control is central to many every day situations. There, we usually have to combine different actions to achieve a task goal. Several lines of research indicated that areas in the prefrontal cortex determine cognitive control in situations requiring multi-component behavior. One of this is the frontopolar cortex (FPC). However, direct non-correlative evidence for this notion is widely lacking. In the current study we test the importance of the FPC for the implementation of action cascading processes in a TMS/EEG study. The data, however, clearly show that the FPC does not modulate behavioral or neurophysiological parameters reflecting action cascading, which is in contrast to the findings of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. The results are supported by a Bayesian analysis of the data. The results suggest that a possible role of the FPC in multi-component behavior needs to be refined. At least in situations, where multi-component behavior is achieved by stopping and switching processes and does not impose high demands on working memory processes the FPC seems to play no role in the implementation of this major cognitive control function.

Response mode-dependent differences in neurofunctional networks during response inhibition: an EEG-beamforming study.

Response inhibition processes are one of the most important executive control functions and have been subject to intense research in cognitive neuroscience. However, knowledge on the neurophysiology and functional neuroanatomy on response inhibition is biased because studies usually employ experimental paradigms (e.g., sustained attention to response task, SART) in which behavior is susceptible to impulsive errors. Here, we investigate whether there are differences in neurophysiological mechanisms and networks depending on the response mode that predominates behavior in a response inhibition task. We do so comparing a SART with a traditionally formatted task paradigm. We use EEG-beamforming in two tasks inducing opposite response modes during action selection. We focus on theta frequency modulations, since these are implicated in cognitive control processes. The results show that a response mode that is susceptible to impulsive errors (response mode used in the SART) is associated with stronger theta band activity in the left temporo-parietal junction. The results suggest that the response modes applied during response inhibition differ in the encoding of surprise signals, or related processes of attentional sampling. Response modes during response inhibition seem to differ in processes necessary to update task representations relevant to behavioral control.

Interacting sources of interference during sensorimotor integration processes.

Every day, a multitude of interfering sensory inputs needs to be integrated and adequately processed using response selection processes. Interference effects are typically investigated using classical paradigms like the Flanker and Simon task. The sources of interference for Flanker and Simon effect are known to be different and according to dual process accounts, two distinct functional pathways are involved in resolving these types of interference. It is an open question how far these sources of interference are related to each other and interact. We investigated this question in a system neurophysiological study utilizing a hybrid paradigm combining both Flanker effect-like and Simon effect-like features. We focus on event-related theta oscillations and use beamforming methods to examine functional neuroanatomical networks. The results show that Simon and Flanker interference interacted in a non-additive fashion by modulating theta band activity, probably reflecting the recruitment of cognitive control processes. Beamforming source reconstruction revealed that theta band activity was related to a broad neuronal network comprising prefrontal and cerebellar regions, including the MFG, SFG, IFG, and SMA. These regions were connected to interference processing and conflict resolution, but differed in the amount of specificity for different sources of interference.

Distinguishing stimulus and response codes in theta oscillations in prefrontal areas during inhibitory control of automated responses

Response inhibition mechanisms are mediated via cortical and subcortical networks. At the cortical level, the superior frontal gyrus, including the supplementary motor area (SMA) and inferior frontal areas, is important. There is an ongoing debate about the functional roles of these structures during response inhibition as it is unclear whether these structures process different codes or contents of information during response inhibition. In the current study, we examined this question with a focus on theta frequency oscillations during response inhibition processes. We used a standard Go/Nogo task in a sample of human participants and combined different EEG signal decomposition methods with EEG beamforming approaches. The results suggest that stimulus coding during inhibitory control is attained by oscillations in the upper theta frequency band (∼7 Hz). In contrast, response selection codes during inhibitory control appear to be attained by the lower theta frequency band (∼4 Hz). Importantly, these different codes seem to be processed in distinct functional neuroanatomical structures. Although the SMA may process stimulus codes and response selection codes, the inferior frontal cortex may selectively process response selection codes during inhibitory control. Taken together, the results suggest that different entities within the functional neuroanatomical network associated with response inhibition mechanisms process different kinds of codes during inhibitory control. These codes seem to be reflected by different oscillations within the theta frequency band. Hum Brain Mapp 38:5681–5690, 2017.

Demands on response inhibition processes determine modulations of theta band activity in superior frontal areas and correlations with pupillometry – implications for the norepinephrine system during inhibitory control

&NA; Response inhibition processes are important for goal‐directed behavior and particularly demanded when it is unlikely to inhibit automatically executed responses. It has been suggested that the norepinephrine (NE) system is important to consider for such likelihood effects. As an indirect measure of the NE system activity we used the pupil diameter and integrated this data with neurophysiological (EEG) data and beamforming analyses. The study shows that inhibitory control processes reflected by theta oscillations are strongly modulated by the likelihood to employ these processes and that these mechanisms were related to neural processes in the SMA and SFG. Probably, the modulations observed for theta band activity may reflect modulations in the encoding of a surprise, or conflict signal. Interestingly, correlation analyses of neuronal activity at the sensor and the source level with pupil diameter data revealed strong correlations that were only seen in the condition where inhibitory control processes were rarely demanded. On the basis of findings and theoretical models suggesting that the pupil diameter can be interpreted as a proximate of NE system activity the results may be interpreted that the NE system modulates inhibitory control processes via theta band activity in the SFB when the likelihood to inhibit a prepotent response tendency is low. From this it may be speculated that the NE system dynamically gains and loses relevance to modulate inhibitory control depending on boundary conditions that determine the mode of responding. HighlightsInhibitory control demands correlate with modulation in pupil diameter.Theta oscillations reflect these modulations in the superior frontal gyrus.Study integrates structure, cognitive‐neurophysiological function and neurobiology.Implications for a role of the norepinephrine system are discussed.

Auditory post-processing in a passive listening task is deficient in Alzheimer’s disease

OBJECTIVE To investigate whether automatic auditory post-processing is deficient in patients with Alzheimers disease and is related to sensory gating. METHODS Event-related potentials were recorded during a passive listening task to examine the automatic transient storage of auditory information (short click pairs). Patients with Alzheimers disease were compared to a healthy age-matched control group. A young healthy control group was included to assess effects of physiological aging. RESULTS A bilateral frontal negativity in combination with deep temporal positivity occurring 500 ms after stimulus offset was reduced in patients with Alzheimers disease, but was unaffected by physiological aging. Its amplitude correlated with short-term memory capacity, but was independent of sensory gating in healthy elderly controls. Source analysis revealed a dipole pair in the anterior temporal lobes. CONCLUSION Results suggest that auditory post-processing is deficient in Alzheimers disease, but is not typically related to sensory gating. The deficit could neither be explained by physiological aging nor by problems in earlier stages of auditory perception. Correlations with short-term memory capacity and executive control tasks suggested an association with memory encoding and/or overall cognitive control deficits. SIGNIFICANCE An auditory late negative wave could represent a marker of auditory working memory encoding deficits in Alzheimers disease.

Effects of multisensory stimuli on inhibitory control in adolescent ADHD: It is the content of information that matters

Even though deficits in inhibitory control and conflict monitoring are well-known in ADHD, factors that further modulate these functions remain to be elucidated. One factor that may be of considerable importance is how inhibitory control is modulated by multisensory information processing. We examined the influence of concurrent auditory conflicting or redundant information on visually triggered response inhibition processes in adolescent ADHD patients and healthy controls. We combined high-density event-related potential (ERP) recordings with source localization to delineate the functional neuroanatomical basis of the involved neurophysiological processes. In comparison to controls, response inhibition (RI) processes in ADHD were compromised in conflicting conditions, but showed no differences to controls when redundant or no concurrent auditory information was presented. These effects were reflected by modulations at the response selection stage (P3 ERP) in the medial frontal gyrus (BA32), but not at the attentional selection (P1, N1 ERPs) or resource allocation level (P2 ERP). Conflicting information during RI exerts its influences in adolescent ADHD via response selection mechanisms, but not via attentional selection. It is not the mere presence of concurrent information, but the presence of conflicting information during RI that may destabilize goal shielding processes in medial frontal cortical regions, by means of increasing the automaticity of response tendencies. The occurring RI deficits might relate to the increased impulsivity in adolescent ADHD and a corresponding vulnerability to react to an increased automaticity of pre-potent response tendencies. ADHD patients show a bias to a specific content of information which can modulate inhibitory control.