DISTINCT BRAIN NETWORKS SUPPORTING INHIBITORY CONTROL COMPONENTS: A FMRI ALE META-ANALYSIS

Inhibitory control is defined as the capacity to regulate information processing during goal-directed behavior. According to Dimond (2013), it can be divided into two components: (a) interference control, which operates at the information processing level and involves selective attention (e.g. ignoring irrelevant stimuli) and cognitive inhibition (e.g. inhibiting prepotent mental representations), and (b) response inhibition, which operates at the behavioral level.
We conducted an Activation Likelihood Estimation meta-analysis (ALE) on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in order to investigate whether these two components of inhibitory control have distinct neural correlates in healthy young adults. After identifying 1,843 abstracts from Scopus and PubMed, following a systematic review procedure, we identified 102 studies that met our inclusion criteria (studies using fMRI, non-clinical population, and employing certain inhibitory control tasks, for instance Go/No-Go, Stop-Signal, or Flanker).
The meta-analysis suggests that inhibitory control involves distinct neural networks, depending on the task. The Go/No-Go task, activates a response inhibition network, centred on the right anterior insula, and pre-supplementary motor area, supporting the suppression and withholding of automatic responses. In contrast, the Flanker task activates a network associated with cognitive control, including anterior insula, frontal areas like the superior and middle frontal gyrus, as well as bilateral activation of the caudate. This pattern of activation reflects processes involved in conflict monitoring and adjustment of cognitive control in the presence of distracting information. Overall, the identification of distinct neural networks highlights the importance of considering inhibitory control as a multidimensional process that strongly depends on task-specific demands.