State-dependency of inhibitory control plasticity
Description: 1. Summary: ‘State-dependency of inhibitory control plasticity’ 1.1 Background Inhibitory control (IC), a key aspect of executive functions, refers to the ability to suppress cognitive or motor processes and is mainly supported by a right fronto-basal brain network. IC exhibits a high degree of experience-dependent plasticity; IC training typically results in an increase in the speed of the inhibition process associated with a reduction of right ventrolateral prefrontal activity and a reinforcement of fronto-striatal anatomic connectivity. However, while the neurocognitive mechanisms of experience-dependent IC plasticity in young healthy populations begin to be elucidated, how the pre-training anatomo-functional context modulates the expression of IC plasticity remains unknown. We plan to examine the effects of aging, non-invasive brain stimulation and brain lesions on training-induced plasticity in inhibitory control. 1.2 Working hypotheses Project A. Age-related inhibitory control deficits are associated with an increase in right inferior frontal activity and an additional recruitment of contralateral homotopic areas, a pattern interpreted as a compensatory functional response to age-related neural deteriorations. Interestingly, this functional reorganization pattern is qualitatively similar to the plastic modifications induced by training in young adults, but in the opposite direction. >IC training in elderly should ‘reverse’ the effects of aging on inhibitory control functional architecture. Project B. The reduction of ventrolateral prefrontal neural activity associated with IC training has been advanced as being regulated by the central nervous system inhibitory/excitatory balance, a mechanism that can be locally and bidirectionally modulated by transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). >Cathodal inhibitory tDCS should potentiate the training-induced (supposedly GABA-mediated) sharpening of inhibition-related ventrolateral prefrontal activity and in turn enhance the effects of inhibitory control training. Project C. The pathophysiological brain response to lesions interacts with the cognitive and functional symptomatology, as well as with training-induced plasticity, in a time-dependent manner.>Lesions close to (but sparing) the fronto-basal IC network, or in contralateral homotopic areas, should impair IC-related functional activity and the effects of IC training during the acute and subacute phases, whereas lesions outside the IC network should influence these dependent variables in the acute phase only. 1.3 Experimental designs and methods Projects A and B are based on confirmatory double-blind randomized actively-controlled intervention trials combined with electrical neuroimaging. The effects of multi-sessions training regimens and their transfer to untrained tasks will be assessed with Intervention Group x Pre/Post Training Session interaction terms. The control and experimental conditions are equated for task demands and participants’ expectations, ensuring a stringent level of control for the effects of the tested interventions. Project C is based on a longitudinal investigation of the interaction between lesions spatial features, post-lesion delays and training-induced functional IC plasticity with voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping analyses. 1.4 Expected value of the proposed project The planned projects will answer key questions on the neurocognitive mechanisms of inhibitory control and of its plasticity based on unique combinations of lesion, electrical neuroimaging and brain stimulation approaches. The studies are designed to have an immediate clinical applicability, including the development of targeted diagnosis and rehabilitation strategies for elderly and clinical populations with inhibitory control deficits.
Amount: CHF 594,400
Funding type: research
Funder scheme: Project funding
Start date: 2018-01-01
End date: 2022-09-30
Investigator: Spierer, Lucas
Institution: University of Fribourg – FR
Subfield: Neurology
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Funded outputs count: 17
Funder award ID: 175469
OpenAlex ID: G3013271011