Neural correlates of impulse control in the prefrontal cortex in a dual attentional task during the antisaccade task.
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1
York University, Centre for Vision Research, Departments of Psychology and Biology, Canada
The anti-saccade task, where participants are instructed to look away from a peripheral stimulus, can be used to probe prefrontal cortex (PFC) function. Increased activity in PFC neurons precedes correct anti-saccades in primates. In addition, two competing processes in these neurons, response selection and response suppression, intersect 400-500ms after the instruction appears and has been hypothesized to correspond with an increased anti-saccade error rate (DeSouza and Everling 2004). This study investigated these PFC processes in humans under unoccupied and occupied attention. In part one, participants performed interleaved and randomized pro-and anti-saccades with instruction times varying from 200-1500ms. In part two, a rapid serial visual presentation task was employed during the instruction period. Part three adapted the experiment for functional MRI. Anti-saccade error rates and saccadic reaction times (SRTs) for correct pro-and anti-saccade trials were affected by systematically varying instruction time. Occupied attention increased error rates and SRTs, and altered how instruction time affects anti-saccade errors. Increased BOLD activation was found in oculomotor related brain areas under occupied attention in frontal eye fields and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. These findings suggest the presence of two competing PFC processes in humans during antisaccade preparation. In addition, anti-saccade performance at short instruction times and under occupied attention may reflect preparatory deficits in oculomotor neurocircuitry.
Conference:
The 20th Annual Rotman Research Institute Conference, The frontal lobes, Toronto, Canada, 22 Mar - 26 Mar, 2010.
Presentation Type:
Poster Presentation
Topic:
Abstracts
Citation:
Chan
JL and
DeSouza
JF
(2010). Neural correlates of impulse control in the prefrontal cortex in a dual attentional task during the antisaccade task..
Conference Abstract:
The 20th Annual Rotman Research Institute Conference, The frontal lobes.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnins.2010.14.00067
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Received:
28 Jun 2010;
Published Online:
28 Jun 2010.
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Correspondence:
J. F DeSouza, York University, Centre for Vision Research, Departments of Psychology and Biology, Toronto, Canada, desouza@yorku.ca