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STOP You’re Under ArREST! Harnessing Resting-State fNIRS to Predict Stop-Signal Performance 

Poster Session A - Saturday, March 29, 2025, 3:00 – 5:00 pm EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom

Eman elrayah¹, Jessica Samir, Nick DeMille, Katie Cooke, Carole Scherling, PhD; ¹Neuroscience, Department of Psychological Science and Neuroscience, Belmont University

The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is widely involved in executive functioning and notably, in response inhibition. This extends to resting states, where decreased activity associates with higher impulsivity (Gentili, 2020). While typically-studied using fMRI and EEG techniques, the current study examined fNIRS resting-state PFC activity as a predictor of performance on an impulse-control task. Forty-six undergraduates completed a 72-trial stop-signal task (18 stop trials), with outcome measures of accuracy and latency. Additionally, two 8-minute resting-state sessions with eyes-open and -closed (8x8 PFC montage) assessed oxygenated hemoglobin concentrations in bilateral dorsolateral PFC (dlPFC) and ventromedial PFC (vmPFC). Results revealed higher eyes-open dlPFC activity compared to eyes-closed (rs(46)= -0.290, p= 0.051; similar to Marx, 2004). Meanwhile, a novel vmPFC investigation showed higher eyes-closed activity associated with higher eyes-open (rs(46)= 0.333, p= 0.024). When correlating rest activity with task performance, higher eyes-closed vmPFC activity was associated with quicker latency on non-stop trials (rs(46)= -0.313, p= 0.034). A dlPFC laterality effect was revealed during eyes-open, where higher right-side activity correlated with increased accuracy (rs(46)= 0.296, p= 0.045). Findings support the use of novel fNIRS to probe resting state activity and brain laterality effects. Results suggest that PFC resting-state activity serves as predictors of subsequent inhibitory control performance, with specialized functions for different PFC divisions. Future research should additionally involve handedness as a modulatory factor. Overall, fNIRS provides significant opportunity to better understand the neural bases of response inhibition and may help develop clinical applications for cohorts exhibiting inhibitory control deficits.

Topic Area: EXECUTIVE PROCESSES: Monitoring & inhibitory control