Whole-Brain Anatomical and Temporal Patterns Hypothesized for the Stop Signal Task

Background: The Stop Signal Task (SST) is widely used in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) research to investigate the neural mechanisms of response inhibition (RI). At the foundation of fMRI are patterns of blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signals each with a unique associated function, referred to as task-general cognitive modes. Here we put forward anatomical and temporal hypotheses for which cognitive modes will be elicited by the SST, and how their functions map onto the cognitive processes involved. Task: In the SST, participants respond to the direction of an arrow but must withhold their response when a stop signal (an auditory tone) is presented. This tone occurs after a short delay, requiring participants to inhibit an already initiated response. The delay is adaptively adjusted based on performance, ensuring a success rate of approximately 50% (Poldrack et al., 2016).Hypotheses (anatomical): The SST is hypothesized to engage the Auditory Attention for Response (AAR) and the Re-Evaluation (RE-EV) cognitive modes. AAR is involved in actively processing and responding to auditory signals, while RE-EV supports performance monitoring and response adjustment. The highly specific hypothesized anatomical patterns are displayed in Figures 1-2. Hypotheses (temporal): AAR is expected to begin to activate immediately following stimulus presentation, and to show greater activation in unsuccessful stop trials when the response is actually carried out. RE-EV is anticipated to begin activation later in the trial relative to AAR, and to peak later in the trial, with greater activation for unsuccessful stop trials when re-evaluative cognitive processes are more pronounced. Depictions of these task-induced changes are displayed in Figures 3-4. Conclusions: fMRI-Constrained Principal Component Analysis (fMRI-CPCA) will be used to test these anatomical and temporal hypotheses by identifying anatomical patterns associated with task-induced BOLD signal changes. These patterns of coordinated activation are expected to remain consistent across SST versions with auditory stop signals and different samples. Furthermore, these modes are not exclusive to RI but are part of a broader set of modes observed across multiple cognitive tasks (zenodo.org/record/4624418). Identifying task-general modes streamlines fMRI research by facilitating the integration of data across different tasks and cognitive domains.