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Conflict processing networks: a directional analysis of stimulus-response compatibilities using MEG

Summary

We employed an adaptation of the Simon task during recordings of MEG (Simon JR, Small AM. Processing auditory information: Interference from an irrelevant cue. J Appl Psychol. 1969;53: 433–435. doi:10.1037/h0028034). We provide a neuromagnetic datasets recorded using a whole-head magenetoencephalography system from 4D Neuroimaging (MAGNES®-3600WH MEG). The dataset consists of continuous neuromagnetic activity from regions of interests. For this the MEG data were continuously recorded with a sampling rate of 678.17 Hz and a bandwidth of 0 to 200 Hz. Environmental and power line noise as well as signal contributions due to eye movements or cardiac activity was removed from the data. The dynamics of predefined region of interests (ROI)are extracted on which Granger causality was applied to investigate the interconnections between the active brain regions, as well as their directionality. The dataset can be exploited to address crucial issues in neurophysiology such as: 1) What are the underlying neural mechanisms of the fronto-parietal attention network (FPAN). 2) What are the principles of neural interactions and 3) What are the temporal characteristics and directional interconnections. It has been reported that the network is influenced by ageing and appears to be associated with mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Abstract

The suppression of distracting information in order to focus on an actual cognitive goal is a key feature of executive functions. The use of brain imaging methods to investigate the underlying neurobiological brain activations that occur during conflict processing have demonstrated the strong involvement of the fronto-parietal attention network (FPAN). Surprisingly, the directional interconnections, their time courses and activations at different frequency bands remain to be elucidated, and thus, this constitutes the focus of this study. We employed an adaptation of the Simon task during Magneto¬encephalography (MEG). Granger causality was applied to investigate the interconnections between the active brain regions, as well as their directionality. Following stimulus onset, the middle frontal precentral cortex and superior parietal cortex were significantly activated during conflict processing in a time window of between 300 and 600ms. Moreover, the anterior cingulate cortex and the anterior insula represented key areas for conflict monitoring, either by receiving input from other areas of the FPAN or by generating input themselves. As it has been reported that the FPAN is influenced by ageing, and seems to be associated with mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder, it is anticipated that our results will have an impact on future research on distortions of the FPAN.

Downloading the data

Using gin

Create an account on gin and download the gin client as described here. On your computer, log in using

gin login

Clone the repository using:

gin get Conflict_Processing/stc

Large data files will not be downloaded automatically. To get them, use

gin get-content <filename>

Downloaded large files will be locked (read-only). You must unlock the files using

gin unlock <filename>

To remove the contents of a large file again, use

gin lock <filename>
gin remove-content <filename>

See here for detailed information on how to use gin.

Repository structure

In the directory data you will find three subdirectories to access different types of data. All data consists of neuromagnetic signals from 13 different subjects.

Directory Data

data_meg

In this subdirectory, we provide the cleaned MEG (from 4D Neuroimaging, MAGNES 3600WH) unfiltered raw data from 13 different subjects in anonymized fif format.

data_evoked

In this subdirectiory we provide the averaged source time courses of 14 regions of interest (see paper) for all 13 subjects.

data_causality

In this subdirectory, the unfiltered dynamics of the ROI source time courses are provided on which Granger causality was applied to investigate the interconnections between the active brain regions, as well as their directionality.

Behavioural

In this subdirectory, the response time for each subject and condition is provided in the file 'Behavioural_data.xlsx'

Related Publications

  • Brod G, Lindenberger U, Werkle-Bergner M, Shing YL. Differences in the neural signature of remembering schema-congruent and schema-incongruent events. Neuroimage. 2015;117: 358–366. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.05.086

  • Iannaccone R, Hauser TU, Staempfli P, Walitza S, Brandeis D, Brem S. Conflict monitoring and error processing: New insights from simultaneous EEG–fMRI. Neuroimage. 2015;105: 395–407. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.10.028

  • Ptak R. The Frontoparietal Attention Network of the Human Brain. Neurosci. 2012;18: 502–515. doi:10.1177/1073858411409051

  • Wittfoth M, Buck D, Fahle M, Herrmann M. Comparison of two Simon tasks: Neuronal correlates of conflict resolution based on coherent motion perception. Neuroimage. 2006;32: 921–929. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2006.03.034

  • Cohen MX, Ridderinkhof KR. EEG Source Reconstruction Reveals Frontal-Parietal Dynamics of Spatial Conflict Processing. Maurits NM, editor. PLoS One. 2013;8: e57293. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0057293

  • Pastötter B, Hanslmayr S, T. Bäuml K-H. Conflict processing in the anterior cingulate cortex constrains response priming. Neuroimage. 2010;50: 1599–1605. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.01.095

  • Hesse W, Möller E, Arnold M, Schack B. The use of time-variant EEG Granger causality for inspecting directed interdependencies of neural assemblies. J Neurosci Methods. 2003;124: 27–44. doi:10.1016/S0165-0270(02)00366-7

  • Simon JR, Small AM. Processing auditory information: Interference from an irrelevant cue. J Appl Psychol. 1969;53: 433–435. doi:10.1037/h0028034

  • Florin E, Gross J, Pfeifer J, Fink GR, Timmermann L. The effect of filtering on Granger causality based multivariate causality measures. Neuroimage. 2010;50: 577–88. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.12.050

  • Maris E, Oostenveld R. Nonparametric statistical testing of EEG- and MEG-data. J Neurosci Methods. 2007;164: 177–90. doi:10.1016/j.jneumeth.2007.03.024

  • Harding IH, Yücel M, Harrison BJ, Pantelis C, Breakspear M. Effective connectivity within the frontoparietal control network differentiates cognitive control and working memory. Neuroimage. 2015;106: 144–153. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.11.039

Licensing

Creative Commons License
Conflict processing networks: a directional analysis of stimulus-response compatibilities using MEG in the data directories by Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-4), Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License..

All code in the directories code are published under the BSD 3 clause licenses. See the LICENSE.txt or LICENSE files in the corresponding directories for the full license.