Inhibitory motor control based on complex stopping goals relies on the same brain network as simple stopping.

TitleInhibitory motor control based on complex stopping goals relies on the same brain network as simple stopping.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2014
AuthorsWessel JR, Aron AR
JournalNeuroimage
Volume103
Pagination225-34
Date Published2014 Dec
ISSN1095-9572
KeywordsAdolescent, Adult, Brain, Brain Mapping, Electroencephalography, Female, Goals, Humans, Inhibition (Psychology), Male, Psychomotor Performance, Reaction Time, Young Adult
Abstract

Much research has modeled action-stopping using the stop-signal task (SST), in which an impending response has to be stopped when an explicit stop-signal occurs. A limitation of the SST is that real-world action-stopping rarely involves explicit stop-signals. Instead, the stopping-system engages when environmental features match more complex stopping goals. For example, when stepping into the street, one monitors path, velocity, size, and types of objects and only stops if there is a vehicle approaching. Here, we developed a task in which participants compared the visual features of a multidimensional go-stimulus to a complex stopping-template, and stopped their go-response if all features matched the template. We used independent component analysis of EEG data to show that the same motor inhibition brain network that explains action-stopping in the SST also implements motor inhibition in the complex-stopping task. Furthermore, we found that partial feature overlap between go-stimulus and stopping-template led to motor slowing, which also corresponded with greater stopping-network activity. This shows that the same brain system for action-stopping to explicit stop-signals is recruited to slow or stop behavior when stimuli match a complex stopping goal. The results imply a generalizability of the brain's network for simple action-stopping to more ecologically valid scenarios.

DOI10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.09.048
Alternate JournalNeuroimage
PubMed ID25270603
PubMed Central IDPMC4396635
Grant ListR01 DA026452 / DA / NIDA NIH HHS / United States
R01DA026452 / DA / NIDA NIH HHS / United States
R21 NS085543 / NS / NINDS NIH HHS / United States
Category: 
IRG Funded