Cortical and Subcortical Contributions to Stop Signal Response Inhibition: Role of the Subthalamic Nucleus

By Adam R. Aron, Russell A. Poldrack. Journal of Neuroscience, 2006

1,645 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Suppressing an already initiated manual response depends critically on the right inferior frontal cortex (IFC), yet it is unclear how this inhibitory function is implemented in the motor system. It has been suggested that the subthalamic nucleus (STN), which is a part of the basal ganglia, may play a role because it is well placed to suppress the “direct” fronto-striatal pathway that is activated by response initiation. In two experiments, we investigated this hypothesis with functional magnetic resonance imaging and a Stop-signal task. Subjects responded to Go signals and attempted to inhibit the initiated response to occasional Stop signals. In experiment 1, Going significantly activated frontal, striatal, pallidal, and motor cortical regions, consistent with the direct pathway, whereas Stopping significantly activated right IFC and STN. In addition, Stopping-related activation was significantly greater for fast inhibitors than slow ones in both IFC and STN, and activity in these regions was correlated across subjects. In experiment 2, high-resolution functional and structural imaging confirmed the location of Stopping activation within the vicinity of the STN. We propose that the role of the STN is to suppress thalamocortical output, thereby blocking Go response execution. These results provide convergent data for a role for the STN in Stop-signal response inhibition. They also suggest that the speed of Go and Stop processes could relate to the relative activation of different neural pathways. Future research is required to establish whether Stop-signal inhibition could be implemented via a direct functional neuroanatomic projection between IFC and STN (a “hyperdirect” pathway).

Subfields: Cognitive Neuroscience, Neurology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/b254aeec4611ac4db08948aa3666af5f6582e9c7

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Citations in the corpus

Left inferior frontal gyrus is critical for response inhibition (2008, background): “A model of fronto-striatal loops implementing motor inhibition is quite plausible [48], but it does not explain why frontostriatal loops of the right hemisphere are dominant for inhibitory control.”
Progress in Executive-Function Research (2008, methodology): “We found activation in regions consistent with this direct pathway when subjectsrespondedongotrials(Aron&Poldrack,2006).Onstop trials,wefoundactivationofabasalgangliaregioninthevicinity of thesubthalamicnucleus (STN), in additionto activation of the right IFC and preSMA ( Aron & Poldrack, 2006 ).”
Are the neural correlates of stopping and not going identical? Quantitative meta-analysis of two response inhibition tasks (2011, background): “Other notable regions have included the striatum (Vink et al., 2005) and a region in the area of the subthalamic nucleus (Aron and Poldrack, 2006).”
Triangulating a Cognitive Control Network Using Diffusion-Weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Functional MRI (2007, methodology): “…for the subthalamic nucleus (STN) in response inhibition has been revealed by deep brain stimulation in human patients (van den Wildenberg et al., 2006), lesions in rodents (Eagle et al., 2004), local field potential changes (Kuhn et al., 2004), and high-resolution fMRI (Aron and Poldrack, 2006).”
The role of prefrontal cortex in cognitive control and executive function (2021, background): “Early on, Aron and Poldrack [100] proposed a specific circuit for response braking that included the hyperdirect projection from RIFG to the subthalamic nucleus (STN), so it could perhaps be argued that among its various functions, via part of its extensive pattern of connections, the “hub” that is ”
Hold your horses: A dynamic computational role for the subthalamic nucleus in decision making (2006, neutral): “It is plausible that activation in right inferior frontal gyrus, which is actively involved in inhibiting a response, can do so by exciting the STN and preventing responding altogether (Aron & Poldrack, 2006).”
The expected value of control: An integrative theory of anterior cingulate cortex function (2013, positive): “Several studies have shown that dACC interacts directly with structures proposed to implement changes of threshold, such as the subthalamic nucleus (Aron et al., 2007; Aron and Poldrack, 2006; Cavanagh et al., 2011; Jahfari et al., 2011; Wiecki and Frank, 2013), as well as those thought to influence”
From reactive to proactive and selective control: developing a richer model for stopping inappropriate responses (2010, positive): “In a high-resolution fMRI study, activation of the STN region was found on successful stop trials ([66]; see also [67]).”
The Common Neural Basis of Exerting Self-Control in Multiple Domains (2009, neutral): “First, it is possible that the right insular region they reported active in the clear-all thought versus free-think contrast overlaps with the right VLPFC noted in other self-control paradigms (Aron & Poldrack, 2006; Remijnse et al., 2005).”
A computational model of inhibitory control in frontal cortex and basal ganglia. (2011, methodology): “…subcortical level, the striatum (Ford & Everling, 2009; Watanabe & Munoz, 2011; Zandbelt & Vink, 2010), the subthalamic nucleus (STN; Aron, Behrens, et al., 2007; Aron & Poldrack, 2006; Eagle et al., 2008; Hikosaka & Isoda, 2008; Isoda & Hikosaka, 2008), and the superior colliculus are involved.”
Subcortical processes of motor response inhibition during a stop signal task (2008, methodology): “Isolating the neural correlates of response inhibition during the SST Previous neuroimaging studies employing the SST have examined the cortical processes of response inhibition (Aron and Poldrack, 2006; Li et al., 2006a; Liddle et al., 2001; Rubia et al., 2003, 2005).”