Cognitive interference is associated with neuronal marker N-acetyl aspartate in the anterior cingulate cortex: an in vivo 1H-MRS study of the Stroop Color-Word task

Abstract

The neurobiology of cognitive interference is unknown. Previous brain imaging studies using the Stroop Color-Word (SCW) task indicate involvement of the cingulate cortex cognitive division. The present study examines interrelationships between regional brain N-Acetyl aspartate (NAA) levels (as identified by in vivo proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy in the right and left anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex and thalamus) and cognitive interference (as measured by the SCW task) in 15 normal subjects. The results show that brain chemistry depends on cognitive interference levels (high vs low). Reduction of NAA levels was demonstrated in the right ACC (ie, cognitive midsupracallosal division) of high interference subjects, as compared to the low interference group (P Ͻ 0.01, two-tailed t-test). Chemical-cognitive relationships were analyzed by calculating correlations between regional NAA levels and the SCW task scores. Cognitive interference was highly correlated with the right anterior cingulate NAA (r = 0.76, P Ͻ 0.001), and was unrelated to other studied regional NAA, including the left ACC (P Ͻ 0.025; comparing the difference between r values in the right and left ACC). The interrelationships between NAA across brain regions were examined using correlation analysis (square matrix correlation maps), which detected different connectivity patterns between the two groups. These findings provide evidence of ACC involvement in cognitive interference suggesting a possibility of neuronal reorganization in the physiological mechanism of interference (most likely due to genetically predetermined control of the number of neurons, dendrites and receptors, and their function). We conclude that spectroscopic brain mapping of NAA, the marker of neuronal density and function, to the SCW task measures differentiates between high and low interference in normal subjects. This neuroimaging/cognitive tool may be useful for documentation of interference in studying cognitive control mechanisms, and in diagnosis of neuropsychiatric disorders where dysfunction of cingulate cortex is expected. Molecular Psychiatry (2001) 6, 529-539.

A combined spectroscopic and functional MRI investigation of the dorsal anterior cingulate region in opiate addiction

“…Concurrently, we acquired 1 H-MRS data from the dACC to obtain measures of specific brain metabolites that mark distinct aspects of neuronal integrity and function. In light of previous findings, 20 NAA was of particular interest. Combining 1 H-MRS and fMRI measurements allowed us to derive a detailed neurobiological characterization of dACC biochemistry and functional physiology in long-term opiatedependent subjects.…”

“…Interestingly, a recent study of healthy individuals by Grachev et al 20 used proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ( 1 H-MRS; an in vivo approach to measuring brain metabolite concentrations) to demonstrate a direct association between concentrations of a specific neuronal metabolite (N-acetylaspartate (NAA)) in the dACC and individual differences in measures of behavioural control (i.e., reaction timeinterference). NAA is a metabolite produced within neuronal mitochondria that reflects neuronal density and functional viability.…”

Spatial inhibition and the visual cortex: A magnetic resonance spectroscopy imaging study

“…As recent studies have shown that lower values of NAA correlate directly with lower ATP values (Manji, Moore, Rajkowska, & Chen, 2000), NAA can be regarded as a marker of neuronal viability & metabolism (Grachev, Kumar, Ramachandran, & Szeverenyi, 2001; Ohrmann et al, 2004; Tsai & Coyle, 1995). Given that levels of NAA have been found to correlate with measures of selective attention in other studies (Grachev et al, 2001) our data suggest that relative preservation of neurochemical integrity in posterior regions such as the PVC may allow MA abusers to efficiently process spatial information, at least on the task employed in the current study.…”

A collaborative knowledge base for cognitive phenomics

“…A noteworthy exception was the term 'cognitive control' itself. Only three of thirty papers selected to contain this term indicated that 'cognitive control' was measured using a specific test, [19][20][21] and Numbers are the number of papers (unique PMID identifiers) found in the PubMed database. Diagonals show size of the paper in PubMed.…”