Effective connectivity analysis reveals the time course of the Stroop effect in manual responding

Investigations of the time course of the Stroop effect have contributed to understanding of the mechanisms of cognitive control. However, previous studies have not reached a consistent conclusion regarding such mechanisms. The current study clarified the controversy by adopting a modified stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) manual Stroop task combined with effective connectivity analysis based on task-related functional magnetic resonance imaging data. The behavioral results showed a decreasing Stroop effect when the distractor was presented before the target stimulus. In addition, significant effective connectivity related to inhibitory control was observed, which decreased with the time interval between stimuli, including the connection from the right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG) to the pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA) and from the pre-SMA to the primary motor cortex (M1). Diversity of active patterns between different congruency types was also detected. The current results revealed that inhibitory control could be actively performed in response to distractors to reduce their interference and further decrease the Stroop effect, and that inhibition is more efficient the earlier it is started.