Distinct neural processes support post-success and post-error slowing in the stop signal task

Executive control requires behavioral adaptation to environmental contingencies. In the stop signal task (SST), participants exhibit slower go trial reaction time (RT) following a stop trial, whether or not they successfully interrupt the motor response. In previous fMRI studies, we demonstrated activation of the right-hemispheric ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, in the area of inferior frontal gyrus, pars opercularis (IFGpo) and anterior insula (AI), during post-error slowing (PES). However, in similar analyses we were not able to identify regional activities during post-success slowing (PSS). Here, we revisited this issue in a larger sample of participants (n = 100) each performing the SST for 40 min during fMRI. We replicated IFGpo/AI activation to PES (p ≤ 0.05, FWE corrected). Further, PSS engages decreased activation in a number of cortical regions including the left inferior frontal cortex (IFC; p ≤ 0.05, FWE corrected). We employed Granger causality mapping to identify areas that provide inputs each to the right IFGpo/AI and left IFC, and computed single-trial amplitude (STA) of stop trials of these input regions as well as the STA of post-stop trials of the right IFGpo/AI and left IFC. The STAs of the right inferior precentral sulcus and supplementary motor area (SMA) and right IFGpo/AI were positively correlated and the STAs of the left SMA and left IFC were positively correlated (slope > 0, p's ≤ 0.01, one-sample t test), linking regional responses during stop success and error trials to those during PSS and PES. These findings suggest distinct neural mechanisms to support PSS and PES.