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The impact of mental workload on inhibitory control subprocesses.
Witold X Chmielewski1, Moritz Mückschel1, Ann-Kathrin Stock1
1Cognitive Neurophysiology, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine of the TU Dresden, Germany.
Neuroimage
|March 11, 2015
Summary
High working memory load impairs inhibitory control, particularly when the need for inhibition is not obvious. This affects prefrontal cortex functions crucial for response inhibition.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Neuropsychology
Background:
- Prefrontal cortex (PFC) is vital for response inhibition and working memory.
- The interplay between working memory load and inhibitory control remains unclear despite overlapping neural substrates.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how working memory load modulates response inhibition.
- To explore the neurophysiological underpinnings of this interaction using event-related potentials (ERPs).
Main Methods:
- A Go/NoGo paradigm was employed, with working memory load increased via mental rotation tasks.
- Event-related potentials (ERPs) and source localization techniques were used to analyze neural activity.
Main Results:
- Increased working memory load significantly impaired inhibitory control beyond a specific threshold.
- Neurophysiological data revealed differential modulation: NoGo-P3 amplitude changed, but NoGo-N2 amplitude did not.
- Neural activity in the left inferior and middle frontal gyri correlated with these modulations.
Conclusions:
- Working memory load impairs inhibitory control when it exceeds a threshold, especially in non-obvious inhibition scenarios.
- Distinct subprocesses of response inhibition are differentially affected, with implications for PFC functioning.
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