Reduced hippocampal recruitment during response conflict resolution in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy
Markus Ramm,
Benedikt Sundermann,
Carlos Alexandre Gomes,
Gabriel Möddel,
Lisa Langenbruch,
Nina Nagelmann,
Mahboobeh Dehghan Nayyeri,
Peter Young,
Bettina Pfleiderer,
Nikolai Axmacher
Affiliations
Markus Ramm
Department of Neuropsychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany; Department of Neurology with Institute of Translational Neurology, University Hospital Muenster, Germany
Benedikt Sundermann
Institute of Clinical Radiology, Medical Faculty – University of Muenster – and University Hospital Muenster, Germany
Carlos Alexandre Gomes
Department of Neuropsychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany
Gabriel Möddel
Department of Neurology with Institute of Translational Neurology, University Hospital Muenster, Germany
Lisa Langenbruch
Department of Neurology with Institute of Translational Neurology, University Hospital Muenster, Germany
Nina Nagelmann
Institute of Clinical Radiology, Medical Faculty – University of Muenster – and University Hospital Muenster, Germany
Mahboobeh Dehghan Nayyeri
Institute of Clinical Radiology, Medical Faculty – University of Muenster – and University Hospital Muenster, Germany
Peter Young
Department of Neurology, Medical Park Bad Feilnbach Reithofpark, Bad Feilnbach, Germany
Bettina Pfleiderer
Institute of Clinical Radiology, Medical Faculty – University of Muenster – and University Hospital Muenster, Germany
Nikolai Axmacher
Department of Neuropsychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany; Corresponding author. Department of Neuropsychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bochum, Universitätsstr. 150, D-44801, Bochum, Germany.
Recent evidence suggests that the human hippocampus (HC) is not only involved in the processing of motivationally relevant approach-avoidance conflicts but is also engaged in the resolution of more general response conflicts as measured in the Stroop paradigm. Here we investigated whether neural activity in the HC is necessary for successful response conflict resolution. We compared hippocampal recruitment during an auditory Stroop paradigm in 20 patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) due to hippocampal sclerosis and 20 age-matched healthy controls using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We analyzed hippocampal activation and behavioral performance in conflict trials relative to non-conflict trials. Moreover, functional connectivity (FC) analyses with left and right HCs as seeds were performed. Subjects’ regional gray matter volumes were analyzed based on high-resolution T2-weighted MRI scans. The current study replicated previous results showing increased activation in left HC during the processing of conflict trials in healthy subjects. By contrast, MTLE patients showed higher behavioral costs of response conflict resolution and reduced conflict-related HC activation. In patients with left MTLE, left HC activation was predictive of faster conflict-related response times (RTs). By contrast, right HC activation was related to RT slowing, suggestive of a maladaptive compensation attempt in MTLE patients. Our results provide evidence that left hippocampal activation is required for the successful resolution of response conflicts.
