Why the processing of repeated targets are better than that of no repetition: evidence from easy-to-difficult and difficult-to-easy switching situations

Behavioral and Brain Functions

Guangheng Dong¹  Hongli Zhou¹  Xiao Lin¹  Yanbo Hu³  Qilin Lu² 

[1] Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, 688 Yingbin Road, Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, P.R. China

[2] School of Life Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui Province, PR China

[3] Center for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics (CINN), School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK

关键词: Repeating situation;    Switching situation;    Priming effect;    Switch cost;   

Others  :  791974
DOI  :  10.1186/1744-9081-10-4

 received in 2013-08-31, accepted in 2014-02-06,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

Previous studies have found that the processing of repeated targets are easier than that of non-repetition. Although several theories attempt to explain this issue, the underlying mechanism still remains uncovered. In this study, we tried to address this issue by exploring the underlying brain responses during this process.

Methods

Brain activities were recorded while thirty participants performing a Stroop task (Chinese version) in the MRI scanner. Using pseudo-random strategies, we created two types of switching conditions (easy-to-difficult; difficult-to-easy) and relevant repeating conditions.

Results

The results show that, in difficult-to-easy switching situation, higher brain activations are found in left precuneus than repeating ones (the precuneus is thought related with attention demands). In easy-to-difficult switching conditions, higher brain activations are found in precuneus, superior temporal gyrus, posterior cingulate cortex, and inferior frontal gyrus than repeating trials (most of these regions are thought related with executive function). No overlapping brain regions are observed in con_CON and incon_INCON conditions. Beta figures of the survived clusters in different conditions, correlations between brain activations and switch cost were calculated.

Conclusions

The present study suggests that the feature that response time in switching trials are longer than that in repeating trials are caused by the extra endeavors engaged in the switching processes.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Dong et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

Figure 3.

Figure 4.

【 参考文献 】

• [1]Botvinick M, Nystrom LE, Fissell K, Carter CS, Cohen JD: Conflict monitoring versus selection-for-action in anterior cingulate cortex. Nature 1999, 402:179-181.
• [2]Egner T, Hirsch J: Cognitive control mechanisms resolve conflict through cortical amplification of task-relevant information. Nat Neurosci 2005, 8:1784-1790.
• [3]Kerns JG, Cohen JD, MacDonald AW 3rd, Cho RY, Stenger VA, Carter CS: Anterior cingulate conflict monitoring and adjustments in control. Science 2004, 303:1023-1026.
• [4]Sturmer B, Leuthold H, Soetens E, Schroter H, Sommer W: Control over location-based response activation in the Simon task: behavioral and electrophysiological evidence. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 2002, 28:1345-1363.
• [5]Gratton G, Coles MG, Donchin E: Optimizing the use of information: strategic control of activation of responses. J Exp Psychol Gen 1992, 121:480-506.
• [6]Tipper SP: The negative priming effect: inhibitory priming by ignored objects. Q J Exp Psychol A 1985, 37:571-590.
• [7]Liu B, Wu G, Meng X: Cross-Modal Priming Effect Based on Short-Term Experience of Ecologically Unrelated Audio-Visual Information: An Event-Related Potential Study. Neuroscience 2012, 223:21-27.
• [8]Milliken B, Thomson DR, Bleile K, MacLellan E, Giammarco M: Context-specific control and the Stroop negative priming effect. Q J Exp Psychol 2012, 65:1430-1448.
• [9]Ullsperger M, Bylsma LM, Botvinick MM: The conflict adaptation effect: it's not just priming. Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci 2005, 5:467-472.
• [10]Yang J, Cao Z, Xu X, Chen G: The amygdala is involved in affective priming effect for fearful faces. Brain Cogn 2012, 80:15-22.
• [11]Bauer E, Gebhardt H, Ruprecht C, Gallhofer B, Sammer G: Neuroimaging Evidence for Processes Underlying Repetition of Ignored Stimuli. PloS one 2012, 7:e36089.
• [12]Hampshire A, Owen AM: Fractionating Attentional Control Using Event-Related fMRI. Cereb Cortex 2006, 16:1679-1689.
• [13]Loose R, Kaufmann C, Tucha O, Auer DP, Lange KW: Neural networks of response shifting: influence of task speed and stimulus material. Brain Res 2006, 1090:146-155.
• [14]Monsell S: Task switching. Trends Cogn Sci 2003, 7:134-140.
• [15]Logan GD, Gordon RD: Executive control of visual attention in dual-task situations. Psychol Rev 2001, 108:393-434.
• [16]Witt ST, Stevens MC: fMRI task parameters influence hemodynamic activity in regions implicated in mental set switching. NeuroImage 2013, 65:139-151.
• [17]Botvinick MM, Braver TS, Barch DM, Carter CS, Cohen JD: Conflict monitoring and cognitive control. Psychol Rev 2001, 108:624-652.
• [18]Egner T: Congruency sequence effects and cognitive control. Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci 2007, 7:380-390.
• [19]Botvinick MM, Cohen JD, Carter CS: Conflict monitoring and anterior cingulate cortex: an update. Trends Cogn Sci 2004, 8:539-546.
• [20]Carter CS, van Veen V: Anterior cingulate cortex and conflict detection: an update of theory and data. Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci 2007, 7:367-379.
• [21]Clayson PE, Larson MJ: Conflict adaptation and sequential trial effects: support for the conflict monitoring theory. Neuropsychologia 2011, 49:1953-1961.
• [22]Charles-Sire V, Gueguen N, Meineri S, Martin A, Bullock A: The effect of priming with a love concept on blood donation promise. Transfus Apher Sci 2013. (in press): Doi:j.transci.2013.10.009
• [23]Moritz S, Woodward TS, Küppers D, Lausen A, Schickel M: Increased automatic spreading of activation in thought-disordered schizophrenic patients. Schizophr Res 2003, 59:181-186.
• [24]Spitzer M, Braun U, Hermle L, Maier S: Associative semantic network dysfunction in thought-disordered schizophrenic patients: Direct evidence from indirect semantic priming. Biol Psychiatry 1993, 34:864-877.
• [25]Spitzer M, Weisker I, Winter M, Maier S, Hermle L, Maher BA: Semantic and phonological priming in schizophrenia. J Abnorm Psychol 1994, 103:485-494.
• [26]Wager TD, Jonides J, Reading S: Neuroimaging studies of shifting attention: a meta-analysis. NeuroImage 2004, 22:1679-1693.
• [27]Braver TS, Barch DM, Gray JR, Molfese DL, Snyder A: Anterior Cingulate Cortex and Response Conflict: Effects of Frequency, Inhibition and Errors. Cereb Cortex 2001, 11:825-836.
• [28]Derrfuss J, Brass M, Yves von Cramon D: Cognitive control in the posterior frontolateral cortex: evidence from common activations in task coordination, interference control, and working memory. NeuroImage 2004, 23:604-612.
• [29]Rubia K, Smith AB, Woolley J, Nosarti C, Heyman I, Taylor E, Brammer M: Progressive increase of frontostriatal brain activation from childhood to adulthood during event-related tasks of cognitive control. Hum Brain Mapp 2006, 27:973-993.
• [30]Smith AB, Taylor E, Brammer M, Rubia K: Neural correlates of switching set as measured in fast, event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging. Hum Brain Mapp 2004, 21:247-256.
• [31]Casey BJ, Thomas KM, Davidson MC, Kunz K, Franzen PL: Dissociating Striatal and Hippocampal Function Developmentally with a Stimulus–Response Compatibility Task. J Neurosci 2002, 22:8647-8652.
• [32]Luna B, Thulborn KR, Munoz DP, Merriam EP, Garver KE, Minshew NJ, Keshavan MS, Genovese CR, Eddy WF, Sweeney JA: Maturation of Widely Distributed Brain Function Subserves Cognitive Development. NeuroImage 2001, 13:786-793.
• [33]Kotz SA, Cappa SF, von Cramon DY, Friederici AD: Modulation of the lexical-semantic network by auditory semantic priming: an event-related functional MRI study. NeuroImage 2002, 17:1761-1772.
• [34]Tivarus ME, Ibinson JW, Hillier A, Schmalbrock P, Beversdorf DQ: An fMRI study of semantic priming: modulation of brain activity by varying semantic distances. Cogn Behav Neurol 2006, 19:194-201.
• [35]Laufer I, Negishi M, Lacadie CM, Papademetris X, Constable RT: Dissociation between the Activity of the Right Middle Frontal Gyrus and the Middle Temporal Gyrus in Processing Semantic Priming. PloS one 2011, 6:e22368.
• [36]Lecrubier Y, Sheehan DV, Weiller E, Amorim P, Bonora I, Harnett Sheehan K, Janavs J, Dunbar GC: The Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI). A short diagnostic structured interview: reliability and validity according to the CIDI. Eur Psychiatry 1997, 12:224-231.
• [37]Beck AT, Ward CH, Mendelson M, Mock J, Erbaugh J: An Inventory for Measuring Depression. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1961, 4:561-571.
• [38]Dong G, Shen Y, Huang J, Du X: Impaired error-monitoring function in people with internet addiction disorder: an event-related FMRI study. Eur Addict Res 2013, 19:269-275.
• [39]Gurd JM, Amunts K, Weiss PH, Zafiris O, Zilles K, Marshall JC, Fink GR: Posterior parietal cortex is implicated in continuous switching between verbal fluency tasks: an fMRI study with clinical implications. Brain 2002, 125:1024-1038.
• [40]Le TH, Pardo JV, Hu X: 4 T-fMRI Study of Nonspatial Shifting of Selective Attention: Cerebellar and Parietal Contributions. J Neurophysiol 1998, 79:1535-1548.
• [41]Remijnse PL, van den Heuvel OA, Nielen MMA, Vriend C, Hendriks G-J, Hoogendijk WJG, Uylings HBM, Veltman DJ: Cognitive Inflexibility in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Major Depression Is Associated with Distinct Neural Correlates. PloS one 2013, 8:e59600.
• [42]Barber AD, Carter CS: Cognitive Control Involved in Overcoming Prepotent Response Tendencies and Switching Between Tasks. Cereb Cortex 2005, 15:899-912.
• [43]Astafiev SV, Shulman GL, Stanley CM, Snyder AZ, Essen DCV, Corbetta M: Functional Organization of Human Intraparietal and Frontal Cortex for Attending, Looking, and Pointing. J Neurosci 2003, 23:4689-4699.
• [44]Buchsbaum BR, Greer S, Chang W-L, Berman KF: Meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies of the Wisconsin Card-Sorting task and component processes. Hum Brain Mapp 2005, 25:35-45.
• [45]Garavan H, Ross TJ, Stein EA: Right hemispheric dominance of inhibitory control: An event-related functional MRI study. PNAS 1999, 96:8301-8306.
• [46]Kiehl KA, Liddle PF: An event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging study of an auditory oddball task in schizophrenia. Schizophr Res 2001, 48:159-171.
• [47]Garavan H, Ross TJ, Murphy K, Roche RAP, Stein EA: Dissociable executive functions in the dynamic control of behavior: inhibition, error detection, and correction. NeuroImage 2002, 17:1820-1829.
• [48]Franklin TR, Acton PD, Maldjian JA, Gray JD, Croft JR, Dackis CA, O’Brien CP, Childress AR: Decreased gray matter concentration in the insular, orbitofrontal, cingulate, and temporal cortices of cocaine patients. Biol Psychiatry 2002, 51:134-142.
• [49]Sim ME, Lyoo IK, Streeter CC, Covell J, Sarid-Segal O, Ciraulo DA, Kim MJ, Kaufman MJ, Yurgelun-Todd DA, Renshaw PF: Cerebellar Gray Matter Volume Correlates with Duration of Cocaine Use in Cocaine-Dependent Subjects. Neuropsychopharmacology 2007, 32:2229-2237.
• [50]Raichle ME, MacLeod AM, Snyder AZ, Powers WJ, Gusnard DA, Shulman GL: A default mode of brain function. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2001, 98:676-682.
• [51]Raichle ME, Snyder AZ: A default mode of brain function: a brief history of an evolving idea. NeuroImage 2007, 37:1083-1090. discussion 1097-1089
• [52]Hampson M, Driesen NR, Skudlarski P, Gore JC, Constable RT: Brain connectivity related to working memory performance. J Neurosci 2006, 26:13338-13343.
• [53]Pearson JM, Heilbronner SR, Barack DL, Hayden BY, Platt ML: Posterior cingulate cortex: adapting behavior to a changing world. Trends Cogn Sci 2011, 15:143-151.
• [54]Leech R, Kamourieh S, Beckmann CF, Sharp DJ: Fractionating the default mode network: distinct contributions of the ventral and dorsal posterior cingulate cortex to cognitive control. J Neurosci 2011, 31:3217-3224.
• [55]Aron AR, Robbins TW, Poldrack RA: Inhibition and the right inferior frontal cortex. Trends Cogn Sci 2004, 8:170-177.
• [56]Aron AR, Fletcher PC, Bullmore ET, Sahakian BJ, Robbins TW: Stop-signal inhibition disrupted by damage to right inferior frontal gyrus in humans. Nature Neurosci 2003, 6:115-116.
• [57]Aron AR, Monsell S, Sahakian BJ, Robbins TW: A componential analysis of task-switching deficits associated with lesions of left and right frontal cortex. Brain 2004, 127:1561-1573.
• [58]Bunge SA, Dudukovic NM, Thomason ME, Vaidya CJ, Gabrieli JD: Immature frontal lobe contributions to cognitive control in children: evidence from fMRI. Neuron 2002, 33:301-311.
• [59]Konishi S, Nakajima K, Uchida I, Kikyo H, Kameyama M, Miyashita Y: Common inhibitory mechanism in human inferior prefrontal cortex revealed by event-related functional MRI. Brain 1999, 122:981-991.
• [60]Nakahara K, Hayashi T, Konishi S, Miyashita Y: Functional MRI of macaque monkeys performing a cognitive set-shifting task. Science 2002, 295:1532-1536.
• [61]Monchi O, Petrides M, Petre V, Worsley K, Dagher A: Wisconsin Card Sorting revisited: distinct neural circuits participating in different stages of the task identified by event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging. J Neurosci 2001, 21:7733-7741.