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Updated: Apr 18, 2026
08:55
Online Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Protocol for Measuring Cortical Physiology Associated with Response Inhibition
Published on: February 8, 2018
9.9K
The prefrontal cortex achieves inhibitory control by facilitating subcortical motor pathway connectivity
Charlotte L Rae1, Laura E Hughes2, Michael C Anderson3
1MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, CB2 7EF, United Kingdom, and Department of Clinical Neurosciences and c.rae@bsms.ac.uk.
Summary
The lateral prefrontal cortex modulates frontostriatal pathways to control behavior. This brain region
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Systems Neuroscience
Background:
- Behavioral control relies on prefrontal cortex and subcortical nucleus communication.
- The precise interactions within these pathways are not fully understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the neural mechanisms of response inhibition.
- To elucidate the role of the lateral prefrontal cortex in modulating frontostriatal pathways.
Main Methods:
- Functional imaging with effective connectivity analysis during a stop-signal task.
- Bayesian model selection to compare generative models of neural interactions.
- Diffusion-weighted imaging with tractography to assess white matter structure.
Main Results:
- The inferior frontal gyrus modulates the preSMA's excitatory influence on the STN, enhancing inhibition.
- Connectivity strength and prefrontal modulation predicted individual differences in stopping performance.
- White matter integrity in specific tracts correlated with effective connectivity and stopping efficiency.
Conclusions:
- The prefrontal cortex plays a critical modulatory role in inhibitory control.
- Network dynamics involving the inferior frontal gyrus, preSMA, and STN underpin individual differences in response inhibition.
- Cross-modal validation supports the findings on effective connectivity and white matter structure.
Keywords:
diffusion MRI tractographydynamic causal modellinginferior frontal gyruspresupplementary motor arearesponse inhibitionstop-signal taskMore Related Videos
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