Background
Methylphenidate improves motor response inhibition, typically assessed with the stop-signal
task. The exact underlying mechanism for this, however, remains unknown. In addition,
recent studies highlight that stop signals can have a confounding attentional-capture
effect because of their low frequency in the task. In the current study, we assessed
the effects of methylphenidate on neural networks of inhibitory control and attentional-capture
within the context of two inhibitory control tasks.
Methods
The effects of methylphenidate (40 mg) were assessed using functional magnetic resonance
imaging in 16 healthy volunteers in a within-subject, double-blind, placebo-controlled
design.
Results
Methylphenidate significantly reduced activation of different regions within the right
inferior frontal gyrus/insula to infrequent stimuli associated with successful inhibition,
failed inhibition, and attentional capture. These inferior frontal gyrus regions showed
different interregional connections with inhibitory and attention networks. For failed
inhibitions, methylphenidate increased activation within performance-monitoring regions,
including the superior frontal, anterior cingulate, and parietal-occipital cortices,
but only after controlling for attentional capture.
Conclusions
Our findings suggest that the improvement of response inhibition seen following methylphenidate
administration is due to its influence on underlying attentional mechanisms linked
to response control requirements.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 03, 2012
Accepted:
March 14,
2012
Received in revised form:
March 1,
2012
Received:
August 4,
2011
Identification
Copyright
© 2012 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
