Binnerts, L. (Lotte) (2014) Attentional control in the self-paced Stroop task: A functional magnetic resonance imaging study of brain network activation and deactivation. thesis, Medicine.
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Abstract
Background: The Stroop task has been a valuable tool in the study of attentional control, i.e. the ability to focus attention on appropriate stimuli. Functional brain imaging studies of the Stroop task suggest that attentional control is mediated by distributed activation of frontoparietal regions. Recent studies have emphasised the contribution of deactivations, suggesting that both engagement and disengagement of brain networks underlie attentional control. However, few studies have explored how these phenomena may underlie individual differences in task performance. Methods: In this functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we assessed 65 healthy adults (39 male, mean age 32.4 years) while performing a blocked-design, self-paced version of the Stroop task. The task comprised three conditions: rest (visual fixation), congruent colour-naming (low demand on attentional control) and incongruent colour-naming (high demand on attentional control). Reaction time, interference scores (difference between congruent and incongruent reaction time) and error rate were used as performance measures. Results: The greater demand on attentional control during the incongruent versus the congruent trials was associated with significantly increased activation of a left frontoparietal network; including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and intraparietal sulcus, but also in the task-relevant visual cortex. Furthermore, we observed a significant correlation between increased activation of the left frontoparietal regions and more optimal task performance, as indicated by a lower error rate. Stronger deactivations during high attentional demand were observed in default mode network regions; including the posterior cingulate and medial frontal cortices, but also in regions outside of this network, in particular the mid-posterior insula. As a trend, more extensive deactivation of the posterior cingulate cortex was associated with more optimal task performance, as indicated by a lower error rate. Conclusion: This study confirms that attentional control, as elicited by the Stroop task, is mediated by the distributed activation and deactivation of large-scale brain systems. Our results suggest that individual differences in optimal attentional control, particularly error minimization, were primarily facilitated by greater activation of the left frontoparietal network and increased deactivation of the posterior cingulate cortex. The implication of these findings will be discussed.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Thesis) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Tol, Dr. M.J. van |
| Supervisor name: | Harrison, A/Prof. B.J. |
| Faculty: | Medical Sciences |
| Date Deposited: | 25 Jun 2020 10:49 |
| Last Modified: | 25 Jun 2020 10:49 |
| URI: | https://umcg.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/1015 |
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