Neural mechanisms of transient and sustained cognitive control during task switching.

Full Abstract

A hybrid blocked and event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study decomposed brain activity during task switching into sustained and transient components. Contrasting task-switching blocks against single-task blocks revealed sustained activation in right anterior prefrontal cortex (PFC). Contrasting task-switch trials against task-repeat and single-task trials revealed activation in left lateral PFC and left superior parietal cortex. In both sets of regions, activation dynamics were strongly modulated by trial-by-trial fluctuations in response speed. In addition, right anterior PFC activity selectively covaried with the magnitude of mixing cost (i.e., task-repeat versus single-task trial performance), and left superior parietal activity selectively covaried with the magnitude of the switching cost (i.e., task-switch versus task-repeat trial performance). These results indicate a functional double dissociation in brain regions supporting different components of cognitive control during task switching and suggest that both sustained and transient control processes mediate the behavioral performance costs of task switching.

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Author information

Author/s: Braver, Todd S (TS); Reynolds, Jeremy R (JR); Donaldson, David I (DI);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA. tbraver(-atsign-)artsci.wustl.edu

Grants: R03 MH61615 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

Journal: Neuron (Neuron), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2003-Aug; vol 39 (issue 4) : pp 713-26

Dates: Created 2003/08/19; Completed 2003/09/24; Revised 2007/11/14;

PMID: 12925284, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adult
Behavior - physiology
Brain - physiology
Brain Mapping
Cognition - physiology
Evoked Potentials - physiology
Female

Female
Functional Laterality
Humans
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Psychomotor Performance - physiology

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