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Frontal midline theta oscillations during mental arithmetic: effects of stress

Complex cognitive tasks such as mental arithmetic heavily rely on intact, well-coordinated prefrontal cortex (PFC) function. Converging evidence suggests that frontal midline theta (FMT) oscillations play an important role during the execution of such PFC-dependent tasks. Additionally, it is well-es...

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Autores principales: Gärtner, Matti, Grimm, Simone, Bajbouj, Malek
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4403551/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25941479
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2015.00096
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author Gärtner, Matti
Grimm, Simone
Bajbouj, Malek
author_facet Gärtner, Matti
Grimm, Simone
Bajbouj, Malek
author_sort Gärtner, Matti
collection PubMed
description Complex cognitive tasks such as mental arithmetic heavily rely on intact, well-coordinated prefrontal cortex (PFC) function. Converging evidence suggests that frontal midline theta (FMT) oscillations play an important role during the execution of such PFC-dependent tasks. Additionally, it is well-established that acute stress impairs PFC function, and recent evidence suggests that FMT is decreased under stress. In this EEG study, we investigated FMT oscillations during a mental arithmetic task that was carried out in a stressful and a neutral control condition. Our results show late-onset, sustained FMT increases during mental arithmetic. In the neutral condition FMT started to increase earlier than in the stress condition. Direct comparison of the conditions quantified this difference by showing stronger FMT increases in the neutral condition in an early time window. Between-subject correlation analysis showed that attenuated FMT under stress was related to slowed reaction times. Our results suggest that FMT is associated with stimulus independent mental processes during the natural and complex PFC-dependent task of mental arithmetic, and is a possible marker for intact PFC function that is disrupted under stress.
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spelling pubmed-44035512015-05-04 Frontal midline theta oscillations during mental arithmetic: effects of stress Gärtner, Matti Grimm, Simone Bajbouj, Malek Front Behav Neurosci Neuroscience Complex cognitive tasks such as mental arithmetic heavily rely on intact, well-coordinated prefrontal cortex (PFC) function. Converging evidence suggests that frontal midline theta (FMT) oscillations play an important role during the execution of such PFC-dependent tasks. Additionally, it is well-established that acute stress impairs PFC function, and recent evidence suggests that FMT is decreased under stress. In this EEG study, we investigated FMT oscillations during a mental arithmetic task that was carried out in a stressful and a neutral control condition. Our results show late-onset, sustained FMT increases during mental arithmetic. In the neutral condition FMT started to increase earlier than in the stress condition. Direct comparison of the conditions quantified this difference by showing stronger FMT increases in the neutral condition in an early time window. Between-subject correlation analysis showed that attenuated FMT under stress was related to slowed reaction times. Our results suggest that FMT is associated with stimulus independent mental processes during the natural and complex PFC-dependent task of mental arithmetic, and is a possible marker for intact PFC function that is disrupted under stress. Frontiers Media S.A. 2015-04-20 /pmc/articles/PMC4403551/ /pubmed/25941479 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2015.00096 Text en Copyright © 2015 Gärtner, Grimm and Bajbouj. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Neuroscience
Gärtner, Matti
Grimm, Simone
Bajbouj, Malek
Frontal midline theta oscillations during mental arithmetic: effects of stress
title Frontal midline theta oscillations during mental arithmetic: effects of stress
title_full Frontal midline theta oscillations during mental arithmetic: effects of stress
title_fullStr Frontal midline theta oscillations during mental arithmetic: effects of stress
title_full_unstemmed Frontal midline theta oscillations during mental arithmetic: effects of stress
title_short Frontal midline theta oscillations during mental arithmetic: effects of stress
title_sort frontal midline theta oscillations during mental arithmetic: effects of stress
topic Neuroscience
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4403551/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25941479
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2015.00096
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