Elsevier

Neuroscience

Volume 156, Issue 1, 22 September 2008, Pages 238-246
Neuroscience

Systems neuroscience
Response preparation and inhibition: The role of the cortical sensorimotor beta rhythm

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2008.06.061Get rights and content

Abstract

Paradigms requiring either a GO or a NO-GO response are often used to study the neural mechanisms of response inhibition. Here this issue is examined from the perspective of event-related beta (14–30 Hz) oscillatory activity. Two macaque monkeys performed a task that began with a self-initiated lever depression and maintenance (sustained motor output) and required a visual pattern discrimination followed by either a lever release (GO) or continued lever-holding (NO-GO) response. Analyzing simultaneous local field potentials (LFPs) from primary somatosensory, frontal motor, and posterior parietal cortices, we report two results. First, beta oscillation desynchronized shortly after stimulus presentation, the onset of which was approximately the same for both the GO and NO-GO conditions (∼110 ms). Since it is well known that beta desynchronization is a reliable indicator of movement preparation, this result suggests that early motor preparation took place in both conditions. Second, following the GO/NO-GO decision (∼190 ms), beta activity rebounded significantly (∼300 ms) only in the NO-GO condition. Coherence and Granger causality measures revealed that the dynamical organization of the rebounded beta network was similar to that existing during the sustained motor output prior to stimulus onset. This finding suggests that response inhibition led to the restoration of the sensorimotor network to its prestimulus state.

Section snippets

Paradigm and data acquisition

Two macaque monkeys (GE and LU) were trained to discriminate visual stimuli at the Laboratory of Neuropsychology, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) (Bressler et al 1993, Ledberg et al 2007). Animal care was in accordance with NIMH guidelines at the time. All efforts were made to minimize the number of animals used and their suffering. Each stimulus consisted of four solid squares arranged as (1) right-slanted line, (2) left-slanted line, (3) right-slanted diamond, or (4) left-slanted

Time-frequency analysis

Power spectra were computed and averaged across recording sites in each monkey for each of the sliding analysis windows over the entire trial time period. Coherence and Granger causality spectra were computed for all pairwise combinations of sites and then averaged in each monkey for each window. Fig. 2 shows the result for GE (a) and LU (b) (left column: power; center column: coherence; and right column: Granger causality) where the top row is the GO condition, the middle row is the NO-GO

Discussion

Time-frequency analysis was carried out on LFPs from the sensorimotor cortex of two macaque monkeys performing a visuomotor GO/NO-GO task. Beta desynchronization was observed for both GO and NO-GO conditions shortly after stimulus onset. Following the GO/NO-GO decision, significant beta rebound occurred in the NO-GO condition, but not in the GO condition within the time interval of recording [−90 ms, 505 ms]. These events can be better understood by examining their latency of occurrence in

Conclusion

In sum, power, coherence and Granger causality in the beta frequency range as functions of time were shown to yield information that complements the traditional ERP studies. While these functions may not directly shed light on the neural mechanisms of response preparation and inhibition, they could nevertheless reliably indicate, via beta desynchronization and rebound, the onset and the completion of these two events, respectively. When contrasted between GO and NO-GO conditions, these timing

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by National Institute of Mental Health grants MH064204, MH071620, and MH070498. We thank the referees for insightful comments.

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