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Neural inhibition enables selection during language processing.

ABSTRACT: Whether grocery shopping or choosing words to express a thought, selecting between options can be challenging, especially for people with anxiety. We investigate the neural mechanisms supporting selection during language processing and its breakdown in anxiety. Our neural network simulations demonstrate a critical role for competitive, inhibitory dynamics supported by GABAergic interneurons. As predicted by our model, we find that anxiety (associated with reduced neural inhibition) impairs selection among options and associated prefrontal cortical activity, even in a simple, nonaffective verb-generation task, and the GABA agonist midazolam (which increases neural inhibition) improves selection, whereas retrieval from semantic memory is unaffected when selection demands are low. Neural inhibition is key to choosing our words.

SUBMITTER: Snyder HR

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2944747 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Neural inhibition enables selection during language processing.

Snyder Hannah R HR Hutchison Natalie N Nyhus Erika E Curran Tim T Banich Marie T MT O'Reilly Randall C RC Munakata Yuko Y

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20100902 38

Whether grocery shopping or choosing words to express a thought, selecting between options can be challenging, especially for people with anxiety. We investigate the neural mechanisms supporting selection during language processing and its breakdown in anxiety. Our neural network simulations demonstrate a critical role for competitive, inhibitory dynamics supported by GABAergic interneurons. As predicted by our model, we find that anxiety (associated with reduced neural inhibition) impairs selec ...[more]

PMID: 20813959

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