Gioele Gavazzi

Background/Objectives: Response inhibition is the capacity to restrain impulsive actions, representing a pivotal facet of cognitive control. Although several studies report a dynamic relationship between impulsivity and inhibitory control, the neural mechanisms remain unclear. The aim of the present study is to explore neural correlates of response inhibition as a function of impulsive personality traits. Methods: For this purpose, two groups of fMRI studies conducted on subjects with and without impulsive traits were compared. The selected studies were included based on both the impulsivity levels and the performance of the subjects in inhibitory human–computer tasks (e.g., Go/No-go, Stop-signal). This was done to minimize potential differences due to samples’ performances. Neuroimaging data were analyzed with an Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) meta-analysis approach. Results: Results reveal highly congruent clusters encompassing subcortical and prefrontal brain regions in both impulsive and non-impulsive subjects, albeit with subtle distinctions. Specifically, a direct contrast highlighted different activity in the right Middle and Superior Frontal Gyrus during inhibition tasks in the impulsive group. Conclusions: These findings deepen our comprehension of the neural mechanisms governing inhibitory control in human impulsivity. Understanding such mechanisms is increasingly relevant in today’s world, where frequent interactions with artificial systems may challenge or modulate inhibitory control, with potential implications for everyday behavior.

Aim: Despite the widespread clinical use of psychotherapy, the neural mechanisms linking treatment to changes in inhibitory control networks supporting self‐regulation remain unclear. This study addresses this gap by meta‐analyzing neuroimaging research on how psychotherapy affects brain regions involved in inhibitory control. Methods: We conducted a systematic literature review, selecting functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies that examined inhibitory control tasks before and after psychotherapeutic interventions. Fifteen studies met the inclusion criteria and were analyzed using the activation likelihood estimation (ALE) algorithm. Results: Results revealed three significant clusters of activations, namely: the superior and medial frontal gyrus (including pre‐supplementary motor area), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and subcortical regions, such as the thalamus and globus pallidus. These areas are commonly reported as key nodes of the inhibitory control brain network. Conclusion: Overall, our main result indicates that psychotherapy might modulate key brain region activations involved in inhibitory control, particularly the prefrontal cortex‐anterior cingulate network. This suggests that psychotherapy enhances cognitive and emotional regulation through strengthening inhibitory mechanisms. Moreover, the observed neural changes appear to parallel those induced by pharmacologic interventions, pointing to potential convergent therapeutic targets despite differing mechanisms of action.

Background. Inhibitory control failure represents a central trait in substance and behavioral addictions, which includes patients affected with gambling disorder (GD). In GD patients, research on this trait of the addiction cycle has primarily focused on the use of pharmacological treatments for its assessment. More recently, modification of neural activity using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has been used to explore the dimensions of GD using patient questionnaires. Methods. Herein, we evaluated the use of continuous Theta burst stimulation (cTBS) over the pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA) to determine if it modified inhibitory control in the stop signal task of patients affected by GD when compared with a group of healthy controls without cTBS treatment. Results. To the best of our knowledge, our study is the first to report that TMS treatment of GD patients is associated with a behavioral improvement of stop signal reaction time. Conclusion. Our results suggest that this TMS-mediated improvement in the efficiency of inhibitory control in GD patients warrants further mechanistic studies in a larger cohort to determine if can be used as a treatment modality.

Virtual reality (VR) can be a promising tool to simulate reality in various settings but the real impact of this technology on the human mental system is still unclear as to how VR might (if at all) interfere with cognitive functioning. Using a computer, we can concentrate, enter a state of flow, and still maintain control over our surrounding world. Differently, VR is a very immersive experience which could be a challenge for our ability to allocate divided attention to the environment to perform executive functioning tasks. This may also have a different impact on women and men since gender differences in both executive functioning and the immersivity experience have been referred to by the literature. The present study aims to investigate cognitive multitasking performance as a function of (1) virtual reality and computer administration and (2) gender differences. To explore this issue, subjects were asked to perform simultaneous tasks (span forward and backward, logical–arithmetic reasoning, and visuospatial reasoning) in virtual reality via a head-mounted display system (HDMS) and on a personal computer (PC). Our results showed in virtual reality an overall impairment of executive functioning but a better performance of women, compared to men, in visuospatial reasoning. These findings are consistent with previous studies showing a detrimental effect of virtual reality on cognitive functioning.

Inhibitory control performance may differ greatly as a function of individual differences such as anxiety. Nonetheless, how cognitive control proficiency might be influenced by exposure to various environments and how anxiety traits might impact these effects remain unexplored. A cohort of thirty healthy volunteers participated in the study. Participants performed a Go/No-Go task before exposure to a ‘forest’ and ‘urban’ virtual environment, in a counterbalanced design, before repeating the GNG task. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) was finally filled-in. Our findings unveiled an initial negative correlation between anxiety trait levels and GNG task performance, consistent with the established literature attributing difficulties in inhibitory functionality to anxiety. Additionally, different environmental exposures reported opposite trends. Exposure to the ‘forest’ environment distinctly improved the GNG performance in relation to anxiety traits, while the ‘urban’ setting demonstrated adverse effects on task performance. These results underscore the intricate relationship among cognitive control, environmental exposure, and trait anxiety. In particular, our findings highlight the potential of natural settings, such as forests, to mitigate the impact of anxiety on inhibition. This might have implications for interventions aimed at improving cognitive control.

The dual-process theory of thought rests on the co-existence of two different thinking modalities: a quick, automatic, and associative process opposed to a slow, thoughtful, and deliberative process. The increasing interest in determining the neural foundation of the dual-process distinction has yielded mixed results, also given the difficulty of applying the fMRI standard approach to tasks usually employed in the cognitive literature. We report an activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis to investigate the neural foundation of the dual-process theory of thought. Eligible studies allowed for the identification of cerebral areas associated with dual-process theory-based tasks without differentiating between fast and slow thinking. The ALE algorithm converged on the medial frontal cortex, superior frontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, insula, and left inferior frontal gyrus. These structures partially overlap with the cerebral areas recurrently reported in the literature about the neural basis of the dual-process distinction, where the PARCS theory-based interpretation emphasizes the role of the right inferior gyrus. The results confirm the potential (but still almost unexplored) common ground between the dual-process literature and the cognitive control literature.

Exposure to natural green environments, whether through visual media or in person, can bring numerous benefits to physical and mental health. Given the restorative effects that natural forest environments have on the human mind, it is plausible to assume that these effects can also extend to cognitive processes, such as cognitive control, which are fundamental to higher-level cognitive function. In this study, we investigated whether viewing videos of urban or forest environments would have an impact on inhibitory control and attention in people with or without a past COVID-19 infection. To investigate the impact of virtual natural and urban videos on cognitive performance, 45 participants were recruited, and the exposure to forest vs. urban videos was assessed on a Go/No-Go task and an Attentional Network Test. The data showed that in both groups, exposure to the forest videos improved the inhibitory component. The results are discussed in the context of the well-established evidence of the beneficial effects of green environments.