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Online Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Protocol for Measuring Cortical Physiology Associated with Response Inhibition
Published on: February 8, 2018
Subcortical contributions to multitasking and response inhibition.
Patrizia Thoma1, Benno Koch, Katrin Heyder
1Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Neuropsychology, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr-University of Bochum, Universitätsstrasse 150, 44780 Bochum, Germany. patrizia.thoma@rub.de
Behavioural Brain Research
|August 12, 2008
Summary
The basal ganglia, not the cerebellum, are crucial for multitasking and inhibiting responses. This research highlights the role of subcortical structures in executive functions like response inhibition.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Neuroscience
Background:
- The prefrontal cortex's role in executive control is established.
- The contribution of basal ganglia and cerebellum to multitasking and response inhibition remains unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of the basal ganglia and cerebellum in multitasking and response inhibition.
- To determine the functional implication of subcortical components in frontostriatal circuits.
Main Methods:
- Compared patients with basal ganglia or cerebellar lesions to healthy controls.
- Administered paradigms assessing multitasking (concurrent sensory input, simultaneous responses) and response inhibition.
Main Results:
- Basal ganglia patients exhibited slowed responses during sensory coordination and higher error rates in inhibiting overlearned responses.
- No significant cerebellar involvement was found in multitasking or response suppression tasks.
Conclusions:
- The striatum, a component of the basal ganglia, plays a significant role in both multitasking and response inhibition.
- Subcortical structures are functionally important within frontostriatal circuits for executive functions.
