Neural correlates of preferred activities: development of an interest-specific go/nogo task.

Publication Type	Academic Article
Authors	Bos D, Ajodan E, Silverman M, Dyke J, Durston S, Power J, Jones R
Journal	Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci
Volume	12
Issue	12
Pagination	1890-1901
Date Published	12/01/2017
ISSN	1749-5024
Keywords	Impulsive Behavior, Leisure Activities
Abstract	The activities we choose to spend our leisure time with are intrinsically motivating and vary across individuals. Yet it is unknown how impulse control or neural activity changes when processing a preferred stimulus related to a hobby or interest. Developing a task that assesses the response to preferred interests is of importance as it would be relevant to a range of psychiatric disorders that have hyper- or hypo-arousal to such cues. During functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), 39 healthy adults completed a novel task to test approach behavior and cognitive control to cues that were personalized to the participants' interests compared to stimuli the participants identified as being of non-interest and colored shapes. fMRI results showed that cues of one's interest elicited activation in the anterior insula compared to colored shapes. Interests did not change inhibition compared to non-interests and colored shapes and all stimuli equally engaged a frontostriatal circuit. Together the results suggest that adults were sensitive to their interests but were effective at regulating their impulses towards these cues, a skill that is critical for navigating the temptations and distractions in our daily environment.
DOI	10.1093/scan/nsx127
PubMed ID	29077964
PubMed Central ID	PMC5716102