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Simultaneous cognitive and emotional processing in the prefrontal cortex: an fNIRS study

neuroscience
psychiatry-and-psychology
mental-health

Abstract

The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is one of the key brain regions, where mood and cognition converge. Research suggests that the role of the PFC in the control of information processing may extend beyond the cognitive domain and similarly control emotional information processing. The aim of our study was to explore how affective stimuli influence cognitive processing and vice versa, that is, how a cognitive load task affects emotional processing. A sample of 55 volunteers, aged from 18 to 27, participated in the experiment, which consisted of the visualisation and subsequent evaluation of affective images, a cognitive load task, and a cognitive distraction task. During the experiment, we recorded cortical activation levels using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). The results revealed ventral dominance: the signal in the orbitofrontal and inferior frontal cortices exceeded that in the dorsolateral cortex, while arousal did not increase activation linearly. Emotion had a selective effect on performance: lower accuracy was only observed for images with high valence and high arousal compared to high valence and low arousal; no differences were found for negative valence. Overall, under constant load, affective evaluation appears to modulate prefrontal response more strongly than arousal, and the impact of cognitive load is limited to activating positive stimuli.
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