Adding fear to conflict: A general purpose cognitive control network is modulated by trait anxiety

Abstract

Cognitive control forms a foundation for higher cognitive functions such as attention, memory retrieval, and language production and comprehension. Cognitive control allows us to coordinate or direct lower level or more automatic processes to ensure that our resulting actions will be in line with our goals and to successfully perform difficult tasks, even in the face of distraction. While the behavioral and neural mechanisms of cognitive control are well characterized, a growing body of literature regarding the influence of emotional states and emotional stimuli on performance of goal-related behaviors and neural activity has yielded discrepant results. Conflict and Control in Nonemotional TasksOne particular function of cognitive control is the selection of a correct response from competing responses. In the color-word Stroop task, subjects are required to name the color in which a color word is displayed (Stroop, 1935). On congruent trials, the color and meaning of the word are the same (e.g., the word blue written in blue). Responses on these trials are generally quick and accurate. On incongruent trials, the color and the meaning of the word are not the same (e.g., the word blue written in red). Performance is slower and less accurate on incongruent trials because of the presence of conflict. During these types of trials, cognitive control is needed for the subject to respond with the correct color-naming response ("red") as opposed to the incorrect and conflicting automatic word-reading response ("blue").Behavioral studies have shown that responses to incongruent trials preceded by another incongruent trial (iI trials) are considerably faster and more accurate than responses to incongruent trials preceded by a congruent trial (cI trials; Gratton, Coles, & Donchin, 1992). Performance on iI trials is improved because of a strengthening of selection for action or control. On cI trials, performance is poor, because control is not yet implemented and levels of conflict are high.In an event-related fMRI study of the color-word Stroop task, Kerns et al. (2004) found that a fast iI trial was associated with high dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) activity and high dorsol anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) activity on the preceding incongruent (cI) trial. This study helped establish the role of the dACC as the conflict monitor and the role of a separate and distinct area, the DLPFC, in subsequent cognitive control. These results have since been replicated in several neuroimaging studies (Egner, Etkin, Gale, & Hirsch, 2008;Egner & Hirsch, 2005;Kerns, 2006), and Egner and Hirsch (2005) later showed that DLPFC improves task performance by enhancing processing of the task-relevant stimulus dimension. Conflict and Control in Emotional TasksThe results described above account for the cognitive and neural underpinnings of conflict detection and subsequent control-related adjustments during cognitive tasks. However, in real-world situations, we must con- 357© 2010 The Psychonomic Society, Inc.Adding fear to conflict: A ge...

Electrophysiological correlates related to the conflict adaptation effect in an emotional conflict task

“…On the other hand, the conflict adaptation effect (CAE), or Gratton effect, refers to a conflict-induced facilitation of response time (RT) on incongruent trials that are preceded by incongruent trials during a conflict task [5,10]. This phenomenon has been found, not only in several cognitive control paradigms, such as the Stroop task [20], the flanker task [7], and the Simon task [19], but also as a cognitive index in clinical studies [9,13].…”

Cognitive Control in the Face of Fear: Reduced Cognitive-Emotional Flexibility in Women with a History of Child Abuse

“…Two versions of a facial Stroop task (Krug & Carter, 2010) were created using words and face stimuli obtained from the NimStim set (Tottenham et al, 2009). The words were presented in red 32-point Arial font.…”

“…The task used in this study involves identifying whether a face is male or female (nonemotional blocks) and neutral or fearful (emotional blocks) while ignoring a superimposed word across the face (male or female and neutral or fearful, respectively) that is either congruent or incongruent with the face. Compared to congruent trials, incongruent trials Downloaded by [North Dakota State University] at 21:41 20 February 2015 on both the nonemotional and emotional portions of the task are associated with greater conflict, longer reaction times (RTs), and both medial and lateral PFC regions engaged to support cognitive control processes (Krug & Carter, 2010). It is well established that RTs are faster for incongruent trials if they are preceded by an incongruent trial (iI trials) than if they are preceded by a congruent trial (cI trials; Botvinick et al, 1999;Gratton, Coles, & Donchin, 1992).…”

“…In this study, we used a facial identification Stroop task that includes both nonemotional and emotional blocks of trials (Krug & Carter, 2010) and is similar to another task that has been used to assess emotion regulation and its relationship to cognitive control and frontal cortical circuit functions (Etkin, Egner, Peraza, Kandel, & Hirsch, 2006). The task used in this study involves identifying whether a face is male or female (nonemotional blocks) and neutral or fearful (emotional blocks) while ignoring a superimposed word across the face (male or female and neutral or fearful, respectively) that is either congruent or incongruent with the face.…”

Involvement of amygdala–prefrontal dysfunction in the influence of negative emotion on the resolution of cognitive conflict in patients with schizophrenia

“…Amygdala–PFC interactions are involved in emotional conflict, and top–down inhibition of the amygdala by the ACC is important in resolving emotional conflict (Etkin, Egner, Peraza, Kandel, & Hirsch, 2006). Amygdala–PFC connectivity increases during cognitive conflict resolution was in subjects with high levels of trait or state anxiety (Bijsterbosch, Smith, & Bishop, 2015; Krug & Carter, 2010). Abnormal neural responses in the DLPFC, ACC, and amygdala during cognition–emotion interactions have also been observed in patients with schizophrenia (Anticevic, Repovs, & Barch, 2012; Park, Park, Chun, Kim, & Kim, 2008; Ursu et al., 2011).…”