Cargando…

Early detection and late cognitive control of emotional distraction by the prefrontal cortex

Unpleasant emotional distraction can impair the retention of non-emotional information in working memory (WM). Research links the prefrontal cortex with the successful control of such biologically relevant distractors, although the temporal changes in this brain mechanism remain unexplored. We use m...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: García-Pacios, Javier, Garcés, Pilar, Del Río, David, Maestú, Fernando
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4464367/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26067780
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep10046
_version_ 1782375953201102848
author García-Pacios, Javier
Garcés, Pilar
Del Río, David
Maestú, Fernando
author_facet García-Pacios, Javier
Garcés, Pilar
Del Río, David
Maestú, Fernando
author_sort García-Pacios, Javier
collection PubMed
description Unpleasant emotional distraction can impair the retention of non-emotional information in working memory (WM). Research links the prefrontal cortex with the successful control of such biologically relevant distractors, although the temporal changes in this brain mechanism remain unexplored. We use magnetoencephalography to investigate the temporal dynamics of the cognitive control of both unpleasant and pleasant distraction, in the millisecond (ms) scale. Behavioral results demonstrate that pleasant events do not affect WM maintenance more than neutral ones. Neuroimaging results show that prefrontal cortices are recruited for the rapid detection of emotional distraction, at early latencies of the processing (70-130 ms). Later in the processing (360-450 ms), the dorsolateral, the medial and the orbital sections of the prefrontal cortex mediate the effective control of emotional distraction. In accordance with the behavioral performance, pleasant distractors do not require higher prefrontal activity than neutral ones. These findings extend our knowledge about the brain mechanisms of coping with emotional distraction in WM. In particular, they show for the first time that overriding the attentional capture triggered by emotional distractors, while maintaining task-relevant elements in mind, is based on the early detection of such linked-to-survival information and on its later cognitive control by the prefrontal cortex.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-4464367
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2015
publisher Nature Publishing Group
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-44643672015-06-18 Early detection and late cognitive control of emotional distraction by the prefrontal cortex García-Pacios, Javier Garcés, Pilar Del Río, David Maestú, Fernando Sci Rep Article Unpleasant emotional distraction can impair the retention of non-emotional information in working memory (WM). Research links the prefrontal cortex with the successful control of such biologically relevant distractors, although the temporal changes in this brain mechanism remain unexplored. We use magnetoencephalography to investigate the temporal dynamics of the cognitive control of both unpleasant and pleasant distraction, in the millisecond (ms) scale. Behavioral results demonstrate that pleasant events do not affect WM maintenance more than neutral ones. Neuroimaging results show that prefrontal cortices are recruited for the rapid detection of emotional distraction, at early latencies of the processing (70-130 ms). Later in the processing (360-450 ms), the dorsolateral, the medial and the orbital sections of the prefrontal cortex mediate the effective control of emotional distraction. In accordance with the behavioral performance, pleasant distractors do not require higher prefrontal activity than neutral ones. These findings extend our knowledge about the brain mechanisms of coping with emotional distraction in WM. In particular, they show for the first time that overriding the attentional capture triggered by emotional distractors, while maintaining task-relevant elements in mind, is based on the early detection of such linked-to-survival information and on its later cognitive control by the prefrontal cortex. Nature Publishing Group 2015-06-12 /pmc/articles/PMC4464367/ /pubmed/26067780 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep10046 Text en Copyright © 2015, Macmillan Publishers Limited http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
spellingShingle Article
García-Pacios, Javier
Garcés, Pilar
Del Río, David
Maestú, Fernando
Early detection and late cognitive control of emotional distraction by the prefrontal cortex
title Early detection and late cognitive control of emotional distraction by the prefrontal cortex
title_full Early detection and late cognitive control of emotional distraction by the prefrontal cortex
title_fullStr Early detection and late cognitive control of emotional distraction by the prefrontal cortex
title_full_unstemmed Early detection and late cognitive control of emotional distraction by the prefrontal cortex
title_short Early detection and late cognitive control of emotional distraction by the prefrontal cortex
title_sort early detection and late cognitive control of emotional distraction by the prefrontal cortex
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4464367/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26067780
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep10046
work_keys_str_mv AT garciapaciosjavier earlydetectionandlatecognitivecontrolofemotionaldistractionbytheprefrontalcortex
AT garcespilar earlydetectionandlatecognitivecontrolofemotionaldistractionbytheprefrontalcortex
AT delriodavid earlydetectionandlatecognitivecontrolofemotionaldistractionbytheprefrontalcortex
AT maestufernando earlydetectionandlatecognitivecontrolofemotionaldistractionbytheprefrontalcortex