Elsevier

NeuroImage

Volume 34, Issue 4, 15 February 2007, Pages 1766-1773
NeuroImage

State, trait and biochemical influences on human anterior cingulate function

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2006.08.057Get rights and content

Abstract

The dorsal part of the human anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) is reliably activated in situations requiring cognitive control, especially during states of conflict. However, little is known about how individual differences in the neural characteristics of the dACC and major dimensions of behavior, affect this brain response. We recruited 28 healthy adults and employed a multi-modal neuroimaging approach combined with a task designed to specifically activate the human dACC and statistical path analysis to demonstrate clear roles for intelligence, personality and concentrations of neuronal N-acetylaspartate in determining dACC activation. These influences were comparable in magnitude to those associated with the experience of conflict. Our findings extend current understandings of the neural substrates of cognitive control by modeling the effect of neuronal viability, intelligence, and personality, on dACC activation. They also highlight the importance of considering enduring personal characteristics when mapping human brain–behavior relationships.

Section snippets

Subjects and task

We recruited 28 healthy right-handed volunteers (15 female; aged 22–48 years). This sample size has been shown to provide adequate power for correlational analyses (Cohen, 1988) and similar size samples have been used in path analysis of brain imaging data (Bullmore et al., 2000, Seminowicz et al., 2004). None of the participants that completed this study had a personal or family history of neurological or psychiatric illness and all presented with adequate visual function. All participants

Performance and functional analyses

As in previous studies, we found that MSIT performance produced a large and significant response conflict effect as indexed by significantly longer reaction time (RT) in the incongruent compared to congruent condition (RT difference between conditions; MSIT-rt; M = 331  ms; F = 509.5; P < 0.0001). In addition, the MSIT generated significant error-related response conflicts, as reflected by significantly greater response errors (commission and omission) in the incongruent compared to congruent

Discussion

While the dorsal part of the human anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) is reliably activated in situations of conflict, very little is known about how individual differences in the neural characteristics of the dACC and major dimensions of behavior, affect this brain response. In the current study, we recruited 28 healthy adults and employed a multi-modal neuroimaging approach combined with statistical path analysis to demonstrate and quantify the relative influences of intelligence, personality,

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia (I.D. 236175) and the Ian Potter Foundation. Dr Murat Yücel is supported by an NHMRC Program Grant (ID: 350241). Dr. Harrison is supported by a NHMRC Training Award (I.D. 400420). Neuroimaging analysis was facilitated by the Neuropsychiatry Imaging Laboratory managed by Ms. Bridget Soulsby at the Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre and supported by Neurosciences Victoria. Melbourne Neuropsychiatry

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