Predicting success: Patterns of cortical activation and deactivation prior to response inhibition

& The present study investigated the relationships between attention and other preparatory processes prior to a response inhibition task and the processes involved in the inhibition itself. To achieve this, a mixed fMRI design was employed to identify the functional areas activated during both inhibition decision events and the block of trials following a visual cue introduced 2 to 7 sec prior (cue period). Preparing for suc-cessful performance produced increases in activation for both the cue period and the inhibition itself in the frontoparietal cortical network. Furthermore, preparation produced activa-tion decreases in midline areas (insula and medial prefrontal) argued to be responsible for monitoring internal emotional states, and these cue period deactivations alone predicted sub-sequent success or failure. The results suggest that when cues are provided to signify the imminent requirement for be-havioral control, successful performance results from a co-ordinated pattern of preparatory activation in task-relevant areas and deactivation of task-irrelevant ones. &amp