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Validation of an emotional stop-signal task to probe individual differences in emotional response inhibition: Relationships with positive and negative urgency.

ABSTRACT: Performance on an emotional stop-signal task designed to assess emotional response inhibition has been associated with Negative Urgency and psychopathology, particularly self-injurious behaviors. Indeed, difficulty inhibiting prepotent negative responses to aversive stimuli on the emotional stop-signal task (i.e. poor negative emotional response inhibition) partially explains the association between Negative Urgency and non-suicidal self-injury. Here, we combine existing data sets from clinical (hospitalised psychiatric inpatients) and non-clinical (community/student participants) samples aged 18-65 years (N = 450) to examine the psychometric properties of this behavioural task and evaluate hypotheses that emotional stop-signal task metrics relate to distinct impulsive traits among participants who also completed the UPPS-P (n = 223). We specifically predicted associations between worse negative emotional response inhibition (i.e. commission errors during stop-signal trials representing negative reactions to unpleasant images) and Negative Urgency, whereas commission errors to positive stimuli - reflecting worse positive emotional response inhibition - would relate to Positive Urgency. Results support the emotional stop-signal task's convergent and discriminant validity: as hypothesised, poor negative emotional response inhibition was specifically associated with Negative Urgency and no other impulsive traits on the UPPS-P. However, we did not find the hypothesised association between positive emotional response inhibition and Positive Urgency. Correlations between emotional stop-signal task performance and self-report measures were the modest, similar to other behavioural tasks. Participants who completed the emotional stop-signal task twice (n = 61) additionally provide preliminary evidence for test-retest reliability. Together, findings suggest adequate reliability and validity of the emotional stop-signal task to derive candidate behavioural markers of neurocognitive functioning associated with Negative Urgency and psychopathology.

SUBMITTER: Allen KJD

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8619735 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Previous studies have delineated the neural processes of motor response inhibition during a stop signal task, with most reports focusing on the cortical mechanisms. A recent study highlighted the importance of subcortical processes during stop signal inhibition in 13 individuals and suggested that the subthalamic nucleus (STN) may play a role in blocking response execution (Aron and Poldrack, 2006. Cortical and subcortical contributions to Stop signal response inhibition: role of the subthalamic nucleus. J Neurosci 26, 2424-2433). Here in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study we replicated the finding of greater activation in the STN during stop (success or error) trials, compared to go trials, in a larger sample of subjects (n=30). However, since a contrast between stop and go trials involved processes that could be distinguished from response inhibition, the role of subthalamic activity during stop signal inhibition remained to be specified. To this end we followed an alternative strategy to isolate the neural correlates of response inhibition (Li et al., 2006a. Imaging response inhibition in a stop signal task--neural correlates independent of signal monitoring and post-response processing. J Neurosci 26, 186-192). We compared individuals with short and long stop signal reaction time (SSRT) as computed by the horse race model. The two groups of subjects did not differ in any other aspects of stop signal performance. We showed greater activity in the short than the long SSRT group in the caudate head during stop successes, as compared to stop errors. Caudate activity was positively correlated with medial prefrontal activity previously shown to mediate stop signal inhibition. Conversely, bilateral thalamic nuclei and other parts of the basal ganglia, including the STN, showed greater activation in subjects with long than short SSRT. Thus, fMRI delineated contrasting roles of the prefrontal-caudate and striato-thalamic activities in mediating motor response inhibition.

Project description:BackgroundA lack of ability to inhibit prepotent responses, or more generally a lack of impulse control, is associated with several disorders such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and schizophrenia as well as general damage to the prefrontal cortex. A stop-signal task (SST) is a reliable and established measure of response inhibition. However, using the SST as an objective assessment in diagnostic or research-focused settings places significant stress on participants as the task itself requires concentration and cognitive effort and is not particularly engaging. This can lead to decreased motivation to follow task instructions and poor data quality, which can affect assessment efficacy and might increase drop-out rates. Gamification-the application of game-based elements in nongame settings-has shown to improve engaged attention to a cognitive task, thus increasing participant motivation and data quality.ObjectiveThis study aims to design a gamified SST that improves participants' engagement and validate this gamified SST against a standard SST.MethodsWe described the design of our gamified SST and reported on 2 separate studies that aim to validate the gamified SST relative to a standard SST. In study 1, a within-subject design was used to compare the performance of the SST and a stop-signal game (SSG). In study 2, we added eye tracking to the procedure to determine if overt attention was affected and aimed to replicate the findings from study 1 in a between-subjects design. Furthermore, in both studies, flow and motivational experiences were measured.ResultsIn contrast, the behavioral performance was comparable between the tasks (P<.87; BF01=2.87), and the experience of flow and intrinsic motivation were rated higher in the SSG group, although this difference was not significant.ConclusionsOverall, our findings provide evidence that the gamification of SST is possible and that the SSG is enjoyed more. Thus, when participant engagement is critical, we recommend using the SSG instead of the SST.

Project description:BACKGROUND:The P3 component of the event-related potential (ERP) has been particularly useful in alcohol research for identifying endophenotypes of alcohol-use disorder (AUD) risk in sober subjects. However, practice and/or fatigue reduce P3 amplitude, limiting the ability to ascertain acute and adaptive effects of alcohol exposure. Here, we report acute alcohol effects on P3 amplitude and latency using an adaptive stop signal task (aSST). METHODS:One hundred forty-eight non-dependent moderate to heavy social drinkers, ages 21 to 27, participated in two single-blind, alcohol or placebo, counterbalanced sessions approximately 1 week apart. During each session, subjects performed an adaptive stop signal task (aSST) at 1) baseline, 2) upon reaching the target 60 mg/dL breath alcohol concentration or at the equivalent time during the placebo session, and 3) approximately 135 min later while the breath alcohol concentration was clamped. Here, we report on differences between baseline and first subsequent measurements across the experimental sessions. During each aSST run, the stop signal delay (SSD, the time between stop and go signals) adjusted trial-by-trial, based on the subject's performance. RESULTS:The aSST reliably generated a STOP P3 component that did not change significantly with repeated task performance. The pre-infusion SSD distribution was bimodal, with mean values several hundred msec apart (FAST: 153 msec and SLOW: 390 msec). This suggested different response strategies: FAST SSD favoring "going" over "stopping", and SLOW SSD favoring "stopping" over "going". Exposure to alcohol at 60 mg/dL differentially affected the amplitude and latency of the STOP P3 according to SSD group. Alcohol significantly reduced P3 amplitude in the SLOW SSD compared to the FAST SSD group, but significantly increased P3 latency in the FAST SSD compared to the SLOW SSD group. CONCLUSIONS:The aSST is a robust and sensitive task for detecting alcohol-induced changes in inhibition behavior as measured by the P3 component in a within-subject design. Alcohol was associated with P3 component changes, which varied by SSD group, suggesting a differential effect as a function of task strategy. Overall, the data support the potential utility of the aSST in the detection of alcohol response-related AUD risk.

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Validation of an emotional stop-signal task to probe individual differences in emotional response inhibition: Relationships with positive and negative urgency.

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