Are Motor and Cognitive Control, Impulsivity and Risk-Taking Behaviour as Well as Moral Decision Making Determined by the Activity of Prefrontal Cortex During Stroop Test?

Abstract

Background. The main aim of our research was to determine if there was a relationship between prefrontal cortex activity during Stroop test (dependent variables) and variables of “Go/NoGo”, Balloon Analogue Risk Task, impulsivity score, different tests of cognitive functions, moral decisions tests (altruistic or egoistic), Fitts-like motor control task, five character traits, emotional intelligence, mood, sleepiness and perceived stress, total physical activity of subjects (independent variables). Methods.In total, 20 undergraduate students (mean age were 21.3, SD = 1) met the criteria and agreed to participate in this study. Results. Our research has shown that different brain functional outcomes, that is speed-accuracy motor control, inhibition response control and cognitive performance, risky-taking behaviour and impulsivity control, management of emotion, personality consciousness and physical activity have a common correlation with the increase in prefrontal cortex activity (measured by fNIRS) during Stroop test. Conclusion. Our studies have clearly shown that different brain functional outcomes, that is speed-accuracy motor control, inhibition response control and cognitive performance, risky-taking behaviour and impulsivity control, management of emotion, personality consciousness and physical activity have a common correlation with the increase in prefrontal cortex activity (measured by fNIRS) during Stroop test. Considerable number of studies are needed to understand what is the functional essence of these relationships, but currently there is an increase of research establishing correlations between motor behaviour and cognition control.

Relationship between Moral Values for Driving Behavior and Brain Activity: An NIRS Study

“…Then, the cortex localization of the channels was obtained using Statistical Parametric Mapping for Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS-SPM), which was programmed with MATLAB R2014a (MathWorks Inc., Natick, America). The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and prefrontal cortex (PFC) are regions of interest that are particularly involved in moral emotions [ 26 , 31 ]. A total of 24 channels (Ch) in these regions of interest were included in the analysis ( Figure 1 a).…”

“…However, fMRI requires the subject to lie supine in a narrow cylinder; moreover, the body, especially the head, must be firmly fixed, and the measurement time is long. In recent years, research on moral emotions using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) has attracted much attention and demonstrated its effectiveness as an alternative to fMRI [ 25 , 30 , 31 , 32 ], but there have been no reports focusing on drivers’ moral emotions or driving behavior. Furthermore, it is believed that judgments based on moral emotions are influenced by not only innate aspects but also acquired aspects, and despite the fact that different individuals have different moral views [ 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 ], only a few studies have examined brain activity in terms of individual differences in morality [ 25 ].…”