Comparison of Functional Connectivity in the Prefrontal Cortex during a Simple and an Emotional Go/No-Go Task in Female versus Male Groups: An fNIRS Study

• Published in: Brain sciences Vol. 11; no. 7; p. 909
• Main Authors: Nguyen, Thien, Condy, Emma E., Park, Soongho, Friedman, Bruce H., Gandjbakhche, Amir
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 09.07.2021; MDPI
• Subjects: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; Behavior; behavioral inhibition; Brain research; Cognitive ability; commission error; connectivity–performance correlation; emission error; Emotions; Estrogens; Females; Go/no-go discrimination learning; Hemispheric laterality; Infrared spectroscopy; inhibitory control deficits; Males; Medical imaging; Neural networks; Neurodevelopmental disorders; Prefrontal cortex; response time
• ISSN: 2076-3425; 2076-3425
• DOI: 10.3390/brainsci11070909

Inhibitory control is a cognitive process to suppress prepotent behavioral responses to stimuli. This study aimed to investigate prefrontal functional connectivity during a behavioral inhibition task and its correlation with the subject’s performance. Additionally, we identified connections that are specific to the Go/No-Go task. The experiment was performed on 42 normal, healthy adults who underwent a vanilla baseline and a simple and emotional Go/No-Go task. Cerebral hemodynamic responses were measured in the prefrontal cortex using a 16-channel near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) device. Functional connectivity was calculated from NIRS signals and correlated to the Go/No-Go performance. Strong connectivity was found in both the tasks in the right hemisphere, inter-hemispherically, and the left medial prefrontal cortex. Better performance (fewer errors, faster response) is associated with stronger prefrontal connectivity during the simple Go/No-Go in both sexes and the emotional Go/No-Go connectivity in males. However, females express a lower emotional Go/No-Go connectivity while performing better on the task. This study reports a complete prefrontal network during a simple and emotional Go/No-Go and its correlation with the subject’s performance in females and males. The results can be applied to examine behavioral inhibitory control deficits in population with neurodevelopmental disorders.