Strength of resting-state functional connectivity associated with performance-adjustment ability

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Psychology
• Functional Neuroimaging

Background:

• Behavioral adjustment after negative feedback is crucial but varies significantly among individuals.
• Understanding the neural basis of this adjustment is essential for addressing learning deficits.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify brain regions involved in successful behavioral adjustment to negative feedback.
• To explore intrinsic functional connectivity related to individual differences in error adjustment.

Main Methods:

• Combined task-based and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 28 young adults.
• A visuomotor associative learning task with trial-and-error learning.
• Analysis of brain activity differences between repeated and changed error responses.

Main Results:

• The right dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) showed greater activation for adjusted errors (Error-Changed) compared to repeated errors (Error-Repeated).
• Stronger anti-correlation between the right dACC and right amygdala was linked to better adjustment.
• Enhanced anti-correlation between the DLPFC and regions including the paracentral gyrus, inferior temporal gyrus, and hippocampus correlated with improved error adjustment ability.

Conclusions:

• The right dACC and DLPFC are critical for successful behavioral adjustment following negative feedback.
• Individual variability in error adjustment is associated with distinct functional connectivity patterns involving emotion and memory/default mode networks.