Wolf Dominik, Zschutschke Lisa, Scheurich Armin, Schmitz Florian, Lieb Klaus, Tüscher Oliver, Fellgiebel Andreas
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Mainz, Untere Zahlbacher Str. 8, 55131, Mainz, Germany.
Hum Brain Mapp. 2014 May;35(5):2448-58. doi: 10.1002/hbm.22340. Epub 2013 Sep 3.
The Stroop interference task is a widely used paradigm to examine cognitive inhibition, which is a key component of goal-directed behavior. With increasing age, reaction times in the Stroop interference task are usually slowed. However, to date it is still under debate if age-related increases in reaction times are merely an artifact of general slowing. The current study was conducted to investigate the role of general slowing, as measured by Trail-Making-Test-A, in age-related alterations of Stroop interference. We applied Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) to determine the topography of neuronal networks underlying Stroop interference under control of general slowing. On the behavioral level, linear regression analysis demonstrated that age accounted for significant variance on Stroop interference, whereas TMT-A performance did not. Controlling for TMT-A, DTI based white matter analyses demonstrated a strong association of Stroop interference with integrity measures of genu of corpus callosum, bilateral anterior corona radiata, and bilateral anterior limb of capsula interna. These pathways are associated with frontal brain regions by either connecting the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex or the anterior cingulate cortex with frontal and subcortical regions or by containing fibers which are part of cortico-thalamic circuits that cross prefrontal regions. Importantly, results expand our knowledge of the neural basis of Stroop interference and emphasize the importance of white matter integrity of frontal pathways in the modulation of Stroop interference. Combining behavioral and DTI findings our results further suggest that cognitive inhibition, as measured by Stroop task, is a qualitatively distinct cognitive process that declines with age.
斯特鲁普干扰任务是一种广泛用于检验认知抑制的范式，认知抑制是目标导向行为的一个关键组成部分。随着年龄的增长，斯特鲁普干扰任务中的反应时间通常会变慢。然而，迄今为止，与年龄相关的反应时间增加是否仅仅是一般速度减慢的假象仍存在争议。本研究旨在调查以连线测验A部分（Trail-Making-Test-A）所衡量的一般速度减慢在斯特鲁普干扰的年龄相关变化中的作用。我们应用扩散张量成像（DTI）来确定在一般速度减慢的控制下斯特鲁普干扰背后神经网络的拓扑结构。在行为层面，线性回归分析表明年龄在斯特鲁普干扰方面解释了显著的方差，而连线测验A部分的表现则没有。在控制连线测验A部分的情况下，基于DTI的白质分析表明，斯特鲁普干扰与胼胝体膝部、双侧放射冠前部以及双侧内囊前肢的完整性指标密切相关。这些通路通过将双侧背外侧前额叶皮层或前扣带回皮层与额叶和皮层下区域相连，或者通过包含作为穿过前额叶区域的皮质 - 丘脑回路一部分的纤维，与额叶脑区相关联。重要的是，研究结果扩展了我们对斯特鲁普干扰神经基础的认识，并强调了额叶通路白质完整性在调节斯特鲁普干扰中的重要性。结合行为学和DTI的研究结果，我们的研究结果进一步表明，以斯特鲁普任务所衡量的认知抑制是一个在质量上有别于其他的认知过程，并且会随着年龄的增长而下降。
