Greater activation of the response inhibition network in females compared to males during stop signal task performance

• Published in: Behavioural brain research Vol. 386; p. 112586
• Main Authors: Gaillard, Alexandra, Rossell, Susan L., Carruthers, Sean P., Sumner, Philip J., Michie, Patricia T., Woods, William, Neill, Erica, Phillipou, Andrea, Toh, Wei Lin, Hughes, Matthew E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 27.05.2020
• Subjects: Amygdala; Cognitive control; fMRI; Response inhibition; Right inferior frontal gyrus; Response inhibition; ART; Cg; SSRT; Amygdala; SSD; aCompCor; AAL; Es; Cs; fMRI; Right inferior frontal gyrus; SI; Go-RT; Cognitive control; PES; SR
• ISSN: 0166-4328; 1872-7549
• DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2020.112586

•Males were faster at inhibiting their responses.•Females exhibited increased right-dominant fronto-parietal network activation.•Females exhibited increased activation of the left amygdala and anterior insula. Previous neuroimaging studies have reported differences in regional brain activation between males and females during stop signal task performance, suggesting the presence of sex-linked differences in brain network organization of inhibitory ability. Despite a growing literature on sex differences during stop signal task performance, a consensus still has not been reached due to variations in task design and analysis methods. Due to these disparate findings we used up to date stop signal task methods to compare behavioral performance and associated brain activation between males and females using an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging design. We observed that males were faster in inhibiting their responses, but females exhibited marked increased in stopping network activation, in addition to increased activation of the anterior insula and left amygdala. These findings suggest that males and females process stop signals differently.