Stimulus-response compatibility and emotional valence: an investigation of the neurological bases involved in the processing of spatial and emotional information

Abstract

In the last decades, the use of noninvasive neuroimaging techniques associated with the use of cognitive tasks has allowed a great advance on the knowledge of brain mechanisms involved in the processing of spatial and emotional information. Robust stimulus-response compatibility (SRC) effects have been used to investigate how spatial information is processed and the responses are made based on that information. However, the spatial location is just one dimension in which stimuli and responses may overlap, and the spatial compatibility effects are also found with emotional stimuli. Recent studies show that the valence of a stimulus can reverse the robust SRC effect, producing new questions about brain functions and mechanisms of response selection. The main objective of this study is to investigate which brain regions are activated during the execution of compatible and incompatible spatial responses to stimuli with different emotional valences using the technique of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The study will be developed in two modules. In the first module, this research will be conducted in healthy adults and in the second module, in adults diagnosed with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). (AU)