title: Left anterior cingulate activity predicts intra-individual reaction time variability in healthy adults.
abstract: Within-subject, or intra-individual, variability in reaction time (RT) is increasingly recognised as an important indicator of the efficiency of attentional control, yet there have been few investigations of the neural correlates of trial-to-trial RT variability in healthy adults. We sought to determine the neural correlates of intra-individual RT variability during a go/no-go response inhibition task in 27 healthy, male participants. We found that reduced trial-to-trial RT variability (i.e. greater response stability) was significantly associated with greater activation in the left pregenual anterior cingulate. These results support the role of the left anterior cingulate in the dynamic control of attention and efficient response selection. Greater understanding of intra-individual RT variability and top-down attentional control in healthy adults may help to inform disorders that impact executive/attentional control, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and schizophrenia.
authors: School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Building 17, Clayton Campus, Wellington Road, VIC 3800, Australia. Electronic address: beth.johnson@monash.edu.
authors: Beth P
authors: BP
authors: Johnson
authors: School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Building 17, Clayton Campus, Wellington Road, VIC 3800, Australia.
authors: Ari
authors: A
authors: Pinar
authors: School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Building 17, Clayton Campus, Wellington Road, VIC 3800, Australia.
authors: Alex
authors: A
authors: Fornito
authors: School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Building 17, Clayton Campus, Wellington Road, VIC 3800, Australia; Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072, Australia.
authors: L Sanjay
authors: LS
authors: Nandam
authors: Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Redmond Barry Building, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia.
authors: Robert
authors: R
authors: Hester
authors: School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Building 17, Clayton Campus, Wellington Road, VIC 3800, Australia.
authors: Mark A
authors: MA
authors: Bellgrove
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000098:blood supply / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen
keywords: Anterior cingulate cortex; Attention; Intra-individual variability; fMRI