Abstract
Cognitive control supports goal-directed behavior and involves two main components: 1) monitoring for situations requiring control, such as errors or conflict; 2) control recruitment, either proactively before needed or reactively in a just-in-time manner. In adults, increased theta power over medial-frontal cortex (MFC) underlies monitoring, whereas theta connectivity between MFC and lateral-frontal regions reflects control recruitment. Theta oscillations have been proposed as an organizing principle of cognitive control in human adults and are conserved across species. However, theta’s role in supporting adolescent cognitive control remains unclear. Moreover, adolescence is characterized by a motivation-control mismatch, with social motivation being particularly salient. Characterizing theta band dynamics could clarify motivational influences on cognitive control during this developmental window. Here, we investigated theta dynamics while adolescents performed a flanker task twice, once alone and once believing they were under peer observation to increase social motivation. Broadly, theta dynamics were found to behave qualitatively similar to prior reports in adults. In a novel approach, we separated theta dynamics immediately before and after motor responses, identifying specific cognitive control mechanisms. We dissociate MFC connectivity with rostral/caudal frontal cortex and distinct forms of post-error behavioral control, as well as identified inverse relations between pre- and post-response control. Finally, social motivation was found to exclusively upregulate post-response error monitoring and proactive control, as opposed to pre-response conflict monitoring and reactive control. Collectively, the current study links theta to adolescent cognitive control, identifies specific effects of social motivation on proactive control, and more broadly identifies novel cognitive control dynamics.
Significance Statement Cognitive control reflects neurocognitive processes that allow for goal-directed behavior. Prior work links theta band neural oscillations (4-8 Hz) to cognitive control in adults, however research during adolescence is limited and relations to social motivation unclear. Here, we identify clear links between theta and cognitive control within adolescents. Moreover, leveraging analysis of neural oscillations we parse cognitive control into subprocesses, finding social motivation to selectively upregulate self-detection of errors and changes in control to prevent future errors. Linking adolescent cognitive control to theta oscillations provides a bridge between non-invasive recordings in humans and mechanistic studies of neural oscillations in animal models; links to social motivation provide insight into the nuanced motivation-control interactions that occur during adolescence.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (U01MH093349 and U01MH093349-S to NAF; P01HD064653 supporting EMB), the National Science Foundation (DGE1322106 to SVT), the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (5T32HD007542 supporting TVB), and the NIMH-Intramural Research Program (ZIAMH-002782 supporting DSP). The authors declare no competing financial interests.