The neural network underlying individual differences in conflict adaptation effect

Abstract

Individuals must constantly adjust their behavior to adapt to the changing environment, and this dynamic adjustment ability has been studied through the conflict adaptation effect (CAE). We explored the resting state brain network underlying individual differences in CAE. The functional connection strength between dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and bilateral insula or right anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) was negatively correlated with CAE, whereas the connection strength between DLPFC and left inferior parietal lobule was positively correlated with CAE. We speculated that, when faced with conflict, individuals with low CAE employ salience network to detect conflict, and then control is performed by DLPFC; in individuals with high CAEs who maintain a high level of control in all tasks, conflict is resolved mainly by the central executive network. In other words, in conflict tasks, individuals with high CAEs adopt proactive control strategies, but their counterparts with low CAEs employ reactive control strategies.

Keywords: Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC); Central executive network (CEN); Conflict adaptation effect (CAE); Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC); Inferior parietal lobule; Insula; Resting state functional connectivity (RSFC); Salience network.