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Task Difficulty Modulates the Impact of Emotional Stimuli on Neural Response in Cognitive-Control Regions

Both heightened reactivity to emotional stimuli and impaired cognitive control are key aspects of depression, anxiety, and addiction. But the impact of emotion on cognitive-control processes, and the factors that modulate this impact, are still not well understood. We examined the effects of threat...

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Autores principales: Jasinska, Agnes J., Yasuda, Marie, Rhodes, Rebecca E., Wang, Cheng, Polk, Thad A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Research Foundation 2012
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3464044/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23060828
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00345
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author Jasinska, Agnes J.
Yasuda, Marie
Rhodes, Rebecca E.
Wang, Cheng
Polk, Thad A.
author_facet Jasinska, Agnes J.
Yasuda, Marie
Rhodes, Rebecca E.
Wang, Cheng
Polk, Thad A.
author_sort Jasinska, Agnes J.
collection PubMed
description Both heightened reactivity to emotional stimuli and impaired cognitive control are key aspects of depression, anxiety, and addiction. But the impact of emotion on cognitive-control processes, and the factors that modulate this impact, are still not well understood. We examined the effects of threat and reward distracters on the neural correlates of cognitive control using functional MRI (fMRI) and the Multi-Source Interference Task (MSIT). Behaviorally, subjects were slower and less accurate on the more demanding incongruent trials compared to the easier congruent trials. In addition, both threat and reward distracters significantly impaired the speed of responding on incongruent trials relative to the no-distracter condition. At the neural level, we used the incongruent – congruent contrast to functionally define four cognitive-control regions of interest (ROIs): anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), left and right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG)/insula, and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). A repeated-measures analysis of variance on the extracted contrast values in these ROIs indicated a significant interaction of stimulus salience and task difficulty on the neural response in cognitive-control regions. Specifically, threat distracters significantly decreased the response in cognitive-control regions on incongruent trials, whereas they significantly increased that response on congruent trials, relative to the no-distracter condition. Exploratory analyses of the amygdala response showed a similar interaction of stimulus salience and task difficulty: threat distracters significantly decreased the amygdala response only on incongruent trials. Overall, our results suggest that the impact of emotional distracters on the neural response in cognitive-control regions as well as in the amygdala is modulated by task difficulty, and add to our understanding of the factors that determine whether emotion enhances or impairs cognition.
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spelling pubmed-34640442012-10-11 Task Difficulty Modulates the Impact of Emotional Stimuli on Neural Response in Cognitive-Control Regions Jasinska, Agnes J. Yasuda, Marie Rhodes, Rebecca E. Wang, Cheng Polk, Thad A. Front Psychol Psychology Both heightened reactivity to emotional stimuli and impaired cognitive control are key aspects of depression, anxiety, and addiction. But the impact of emotion on cognitive-control processes, and the factors that modulate this impact, are still not well understood. We examined the effects of threat and reward distracters on the neural correlates of cognitive control using functional MRI (fMRI) and the Multi-Source Interference Task (MSIT). Behaviorally, subjects were slower and less accurate on the more demanding incongruent trials compared to the easier congruent trials. In addition, both threat and reward distracters significantly impaired the speed of responding on incongruent trials relative to the no-distracter condition. At the neural level, we used the incongruent – congruent contrast to functionally define four cognitive-control regions of interest (ROIs): anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), left and right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG)/insula, and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). A repeated-measures analysis of variance on the extracted contrast values in these ROIs indicated a significant interaction of stimulus salience and task difficulty on the neural response in cognitive-control regions. Specifically, threat distracters significantly decreased the response in cognitive-control regions on incongruent trials, whereas they significantly increased that response on congruent trials, relative to the no-distracter condition. Exploratory analyses of the amygdala response showed a similar interaction of stimulus salience and task difficulty: threat distracters significantly decreased the amygdala response only on incongruent trials. Overall, our results suggest that the impact of emotional distracters on the neural response in cognitive-control regions as well as in the amygdala is modulated by task difficulty, and add to our understanding of the factors that determine whether emotion enhances or impairs cognition. Frontiers Research Foundation 2012-09-12 /pmc/articles/PMC3464044/ /pubmed/23060828 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00345 Text en Copyright © 2012 Jasinska, Yasuda, Rhodes, Wang and Polk. http://www.frontiersin.org/licenseagreement This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in other forums, provided the original authors and source are credited and subject to any copyright notices concerning any third-party graphics etc.
spellingShingle Psychology
Jasinska, Agnes J.
Yasuda, Marie
Rhodes, Rebecca E.
Wang, Cheng
Polk, Thad A.
Task Difficulty Modulates the Impact of Emotional Stimuli on Neural Response in Cognitive-Control Regions
title Task Difficulty Modulates the Impact of Emotional Stimuli on Neural Response in Cognitive-Control Regions
title_full Task Difficulty Modulates the Impact of Emotional Stimuli on Neural Response in Cognitive-Control Regions
title_fullStr Task Difficulty Modulates the Impact of Emotional Stimuli on Neural Response in Cognitive-Control Regions
title_full_unstemmed Task Difficulty Modulates the Impact of Emotional Stimuli on Neural Response in Cognitive-Control Regions
title_short Task Difficulty Modulates the Impact of Emotional Stimuli on Neural Response in Cognitive-Control Regions
title_sort task difficulty modulates the impact of emotional stimuli on neural response in cognitive-control regions
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3464044/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23060828
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00345
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