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Identifying individual's distractor suppression using functional connectivity between anatomical large-scale brain
Lei Zhuo1, Zhenlan Jin1, Ke Xie2
1MOE Key Lab for Neuroinformation, High-Field Magnetic Resonance Brain Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Center for Psychiatry and Psychology, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610054, PR China.
This study reveals that brain connectivity patterns predict an individual's ability to suppress visual distractions. These findings highlight the importance of communication between brain regions for effective distractor suppression.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Science
- Psychology
Background:
- Distractor suppression (DS) is vital for goal-directed behavior, involving the inhibition of irrelevant information.
- The prefrontal cortex is a key region for DS, with contributions from subcortical, occipital, and temporal areas.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of inter-regional brain communication in visual distractor suppression.
- To develop predictive models of DS based on functional brain connectivity.
Main Methods:
- Two independent cohorts were studied: one performing a visual search task for DS measurement, the other completing a distractibility questionnaire.
- Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) was used to assess functional connectivity (FC).
- Predictive models of DS were generated using FC data between large anatomical regions.
Main Results:
- Predictive models accurately estimated individual DS performance (r = 0.32, p < 0.01).
- Key connections contributing to the predictive model included Prefrontal-Temporal, Insula-Limbic, and Parietal-Occipital pathways.
- The model also successfully predicted daily life distractibility in an independent cohort (r = -0.34, p < 0.05).
Conclusions:
- Functional connectivity between large anatomical brain regions can effectively predict visual distractor suppression.
- Communication between attention-related and visual processing regions is crucial for DS.
- These findings may offer neurobiological markers for assessing visual distractor suppression.
