Cortical interactions during the resolution of information processing demands in autism spectrum disorders

Introduction Our flexible and adaptive interactions with the environment are guided by our individual representation of the physical world, estimated through sensation and evaluation of available information against prior knowledge. When linking sensory evidence with higher-level expectations for action, the central nervous system (CNS) in typically developing (TD) individuals relies in part on distributed and interacting cortical regions to communicate neuronal signals flexibly across the brain. Increasing evidence suggests that the balance between levels of signal and noise during information processing may be disrupted in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Methods Participants with and without ASD performed a visuospatial interference task while undergoing functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). We empirically estimated parameters characterizing participants’ latencies and their subtle fluctuations (noise accumulation) over the 16-min scan. We modeled hemodynamic activation and used seed-based analyses of neural coupling to study dysfunction in interference-specific connectivity in a subset of ASD participants who were nonparametrically matched to TD participants on age, male-to-female ratio, and magnitude of movement during the scan. Results Stochastic patterns of response fluctuations reveal significantly higher noise-to-signal levels and a more random and noisy structure in ASD versus TD participants, and in particular ASD adults who have the greatest clinical autistic deficits. While individuals with ASD show an overall weaker modulation of interference-specific functional connectivity relative to TD individuals, in particular between the seeds of Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC) and Inferior Parietal Sulcus (IPS) and the rest of the brain, we found that in ASD, higher uncertainty during the task is linked to increased interference-specific coupling between bilateral anterior insula and prefrontal cortex. Conclusions Subtle and informative differences in the structure of experiencing information exist between ASD and TD individuals. Our findings reveal in ASD an atypical capacity to apply previously perceived information in a manner optimal for adaptive functioning, plausibly revealing suboptimal message-passing across the CNS

Social cognition and behavioral responses in kinematic interactions

As social beings, humans are constantly probed to infer intentions from verbal and non- verbal communication and to react according to the kinematic signals of other people. In this way, social cognition is tightly bound to our ability to perceive, predict and perform socially relevant actions. Being characterized by impairments in social interactions, in- dividuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) demonstrate insensitivity to predictive social stimuli as well as abnormal kinematic control both on the behavioral and the brain level. Underlining the severe consequences of impaired social interactive capabilities, autistic individuals are at high risk of social exclusion and concomitant mental health issues. Therefore, the investigation of the behavioral and brain responses to social ac- tions might yield valuable insights into the fundamental dynamics of social interactions, which could lay the foundation for clinical research and interventions in ASD. In order to provide first insights, the main goal of this thesis was to identify the non-pathological brain mechanisms in perceptual action prediction and action control within a social context. For this purpose, two functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments in healthy control participants were conducted: The first study of this thesis addressed the effect of observing communicative, i.e. predictive, actions on visual perception [interpersonal predictive coding (IPPC)]. By the use of point-light displays, we replicated behavioral findings of improved visual discriminability of a point-light agent after seeing a communicative as compared to an individual action of another point-light agent. Furthermore, our findings suggest a perceptual integration of social event knowledge implemented by the superior frontal gyrus (SFG) during predictive trials and a specific role of the amygdala in setting network configurations to meet the demands of the specific social context. Moving from a spectator perspective to direct involvement in a social interaction, the second study of this thesis examined the interaction of gaze processing and action control during an encounter with an anthropomorphic virtual character. The key finding of this second study comprises an increased functional coupling during high action control demands between the right temporoparietal junction (TPJ) as central gaze processing region and brain areas implicated in both action control processes and social cognition such as the inferior frontal gyri. The results of the two studies demonstrate that predictive social actions as well as direct gaze signals can modify multimodal functional integration in the brain, thereby recruiting and modulating activation in brain structures implicated in ASD. In this way, the two studies of this thesis underline the interdependence of social cognition and kinematic processes while providing a reference point for future studies on ASD

Does insecure attachment lead to (mis)wired brains? Emotion, cognition, and attachment: an outlook through psychophysiological pathways

2346, 2360, 2560The evolutionary-based attachment theory (Bowlby, 1969, 1973, 1980) asserts that approach/attachment or avoidance/withdrawal tendencies may reflect distinct regulation strategies underlying individual differences in attachment styles. The influence of the internal working models of attachment on emotion and cognition, and more recently, on its psychophysiological underpinnings has been a central focus of research. Despite the endeavours at clarifying this modulatory influence in behaviour, inconsistent results have prevented definite answers. Aiming at contributing to the current knowledge in the filed, and embedded in a psychophysiological framework, the present thesis brings together findings of empirical studies focusing on the regulation abilities in attentional bias towards emotion information. Following an integrative approach, these studies coupled behavioural responses with measures of skin conductance, heart rate, and eye movements. Findings of these studies converge to show distinctive features between regulation strategies deployed by insecure attached individuals when processing threat-related information on visual attention tasks, as measured by behavioural (Study I), sympathetic (Study II), and eye movement (Study III) responses. Taken together these findings point up the evolutionary value of the attachment behavioural system, providing support for fundamental distinctions between insecure attachment styles, both at a behavioural and physiological level. Considering recent advances emerging in the filed, results are discussed within in a comprehensive and all-encompassing approach.Fundamentada num cenário evolucionista, a teoria da vinculação (Bowlby, 1969, 1973, 1980) considera que comportamentos de aproximação/evitamento reflectem estratégias de regulação subjacentes a diferenças individuais nos estilos de vinculação. Neste âmbito, a natureza dos modelos internos dinâmicos têm sido um foco central na investigação, tendo sido dada particular atenção à sua influência nos processos emocionais e cognitivos e, mais recentemente, às suas bases psicofisiológicas. Contudo, apesar de vários estudos terem examinado estas questões, a ausência de dados consistentes acerca dos mecanismos que poderão contribuir para esta influência estão ainda por conhecer de modo consistente. Visando contribuir para o conhecimento neste campo, a presente tese reúne um conjunto de estudos empíricos que, numa perspectiva psicofisiológica, focam a acção das estratégias de regulação associadas aos estilos de vinculação insegura – ansiosa e evitante –, nos enviesamentos atencionais no processamento de informação emocional. Numa abordagem integrativa, estes estudos combinam respostas comportamentais com medidas fisiológicas: condutância da pele; frequência cardíaca; e movimentos oculares. Utilizando tarefas de atenção visual, os resultados destes estudos apoiam a hipótese de que os estilos de vinculação insegura estão relacionados com estratégias de regulação específicas no processamento de estímulos potencialmente ameaçadores, avaliadas através de respostas comportamentais (Estudo I), do sistema nervoso simpático (Estudo II), e dos movimentos oculares (Estudo III). Globalmente, os resultados corroboraram o valor evolutivo do sistema comportamental de vinculação, dando suporte para diferenças entre os estilos de vinculação insegura, tanto a nível comportamental como fisiológico. Considerando progressos científicos emergentes, os resultados são discutidos numa abordagem compreensiva e abrangente

The Neural Development of Visuohaptic Object Processing

Thesis (Ph.D.) - Indiana University, Cognitive Science, 2015Object recognition is ubiquitous and essential for interacting with, as well as learning about, the surrounding multisensory environment. The inputs from multiple sensory modalities converge quickly and efficiently to guide this interaction. Vision and haptics are two modalities in particular that offer redundant and complementary information regarding the geometrical (i.e., shape) properties of objects for recognition and perception. While the systems supporting visuohaptic object recognition in the brain, including the lateral occipital complex (LOC) and the intraparietal sulcus (IPS), are well-studied in adults, there is currently a paucity of research surrounding the neural development of visuohaptic processing in children. Little is known about how and when vision converges with haptics for object recognition. In this dissertation, I investigate the development of neural mechanisms involved in multisensory processing. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and general psychophysiological interaction (gPPI) methods of functional connectivity analysis in children (4 to 5.5 years, 7 to 8.5 years) and adults, I examine the developmental changes of the brain regions underlying the convergence of visual and haptic object perception, the neural substrates supporting crossmodal processing, and the interactions and functional connections between visuohaptic systems and other neural regions. Results suggest that the complexity of sensory inputs impacts the development of neural substrates. The more complicated forms of multisensory and crossmodal object processing show protracted developmental trajectories as compared to the processing of simple, unimodal shapes. Additionally, the functional connections between visuohaptic areas weaken over time, which may facilitate the fine-tuning of other perceptual systems that occur later in development. Overall, the findings indicate that multisensory object recognition cannot be described as a unitary process. Rather, it is comprised of several distinct sub-processes that follow different developmental timelines throughout childhood and into adulthood

Psychologie und Gehirn 2007

Die Fachtagung "Psychologie und Gehirn" ist eine traditionelle Tagung aus dem Bereich psychophysiologischer Grundlagenforschung. 2007 fand diese Veranstaltung, die 33. Jahrestagung der „Deutschen Gesellschaft für Psychophysiologie und ihre Anwendungen (DGPA)“, in Dortmund unter der Schirmherrschaft des Instituts für Arbeitsphysiologie (IfADo) statt. Neben der Grundlagenforschung ist auch die Umsetzung in die Anwendung erklärtes Ziel der DGPA und dieser Tradition folgend wurden Beiträge aus vielen Bereichen moderner Neurowissenschaft (Elektrophysiologie, bildgebende Verfahren, Peripherphysiologie, Neuroendokrinologie, Verhaltensgenetik, u.a.) präsentiert und liegen hier in Kurzform vor

Social cognition and behavioral responses in kinematic interactions

As social beings, humans are constantly probed to infer intentions from verbal and non- verbal communication and to react according to the kinematic signals of other people. In this way, social cognition is tightly bound to our ability to perceive, predict and perform socially relevant actions. Being characterized by impairments in social interactions, in- dividuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) demonstrate insensitivity to predictive social stimuli as well as abnormal kinematic control both on the behavioral and the brain level. Underlining the severe consequences of impaired social interactive capabilities, autistic individuals are at high risk of social exclusion and concomitant mental health issues. Therefore, the investigation of the behavioral and brain responses to social ac- tions might yield valuable insights into the fundamental dynamics of social interactions, which could lay the foundation for clinical research and interventions in ASD. In order to provide first insights, the main goal of this thesis was to identify the non-pathological brain mechanisms in perceptual action prediction and action control within a social context. For this purpose, two functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments in healthy control participants were conducted: The first study of this thesis addressed the effect of observing communicative, i.e. predictive, actions on visual perception [interpersonal predictive coding (IPPC)]. By the use of point-light displays, we replicated behavioral findings of improved visual discriminability of a point-light agent after seeing a communicative as compared to an individual action of another point-light agent. Furthermore, our findings suggest a perceptual integration of social event knowledge implemented by the superior frontal gyrus (SFG) during predictive trials and a specific role of the amygdala in setting network configurations to meet the demands of the specific social context. Moving from a spectator perspective to direct involvement in a social interaction, the second study of this thesis examined the interaction of gaze processing and action control during an encounter with an anthropomorphic virtual character. The key finding of this second study comprises an increased functional coupling during high action control demands between the right temporoparietal junction (TPJ) as central gaze processing region and brain areas implicated in both action control processes and social cognition such as the inferior frontal gyri. The results of the two studies demonstrate that predictive social actions as well as direct gaze signals can modify multimodal functional integration in the brain, thereby recruiting and modulating activation in brain structures implicated in ASD. In this way, the two studies of this thesis underline the interdependence of social cognition and kinematic processes while providing a reference point for future studies on ASD

Top-Down Modulation of Category Specific Extrastriate Cortex in a Task-Switching Paradigm

During selective attention, visual stimuli compete for processing capacity. Increased activation is found in extrastriate regions that represent the attended stimulus. However, little research has been done looking at activation in extrastriate regions when attention is shifted between stimulus features. To address this, participants completed a switching task during fMRI scanning. They attended to the colour or motion of bivalent stimuli on different trials. It was hypothesized that attentional modulation would be seen in colour area V4 and motion area V5 and that this modulation would help explain switch costs, a term used to describe why we are slower and more error prone on switch trials. Attentional modulation was found in V4, with greater activity when colour was attended. No modulation was observed in V5. The level of competition between these regions did not differ across switch and repeat trials, suggesting that such competition does not explain switch costs

Toward a second-person neuroscience

LS & BT : equal contributions (shared first-authorship)Peer reviewedPreprin

The Development of Flexible Behavior: Age Differences and Training-Related Changes in Activation, Connectivity, and Neural Representations During Task Switching

The ability to flexibly adapt behavior in the light of changing contextual demands is crucial for successful goal pursuit. With age, children become increasingly able to flexibly switch between tasks but show poorer switching performance even in late childhood. Given the crucial role of cognitive flexibility in daily life, such as the ability to shift to a new strategy to solve a problem when the previous one did not work, studies have aimed to improve cognitive flexibility with training in children. A key question for the effectiveness of these interventions is understanding why children show lower cognitive flexibility than adults. In this dissertation, I shed new light on this question, by investigating 8–11-year-old children using behavioral measures in combination with measures of univariate activation, multivariate decoding, and task-related connectivity based on data from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). In Papers 1 & 2, I first addressed the question of which neural processes support the development of cognitive flexibility. In Paper 3, I examined how these neural processes change with training. I have prefaced the three papers with a synopsis in which I outline the theoretical framework of the dissertation and summarize the current empirical findings. Finally, I summarize the results of the empirical part of this dissertation and discuss their contribution to our understanding of the development of cognitive flexibility. Flexibly switching between tasks comes at a cost, evident in decreased accuracy and increased response times. Specifically, compared to performing single tasks in isolation, task switching poses greater demands on maintaining and managing multiple task sets, thus eliciting so-called mixing costs. Additionally, a switch to a different task compared to a repetition of the same one requires the inhibition of the previously relevant task set and updating the newly relevant one, resulting in so-called switch costs. Previous research has demonstrated that mixing and switch costs show different patterns of age differences with switch costs approaching adult levels earlier. The present dissertation builds on these findings to examine the neurocognitive processes contributing to the presumably protracted development of mixing costs. In Paper 1, comparing children (8–11 years) and adults (20–30 years), I examined how neural processes supporting sustained and transient control processes support age-related decreases in mixing and switch costs, respectively. I showed that while evident for both, age differences were greater for sustained activation and mixing costs than for transient activation and switch costs. Additionally, the results of Paper 1 outline a potential alternative mechanism via which children can address increased sustained control demands: children that showed a less adult-like sustained activation pattern but greater increases in connectivity performed better. Taken together, Paper 1 demonstrated that children managed increased sustained control demands during task switching in at least two ways, (1) increased activation in the brain regions also recruited by adults, or (2) increased connectivity with additional brain regions in the lateral prefrontal cortex (lPFC), thus potentially relying on additional metacontrol processes. One factor proposed to contribute to age-related improvements in task switching is an increasing ability to represent multiple rules and effectively update these when necessary. Using the same sample of children and adults, Paper 2 investigated this hypothesis using multivariate pattern analysis to elucidate the role of neural task-set representations on age differences in task switching. Results demonstrated that neural activation patterns on switch trials held less information regarding the currently relevant task than on repeat trials. Intriguingly, this switch-related reduction of task-set distinctiveness did not differ between children and adults, showing a striking level of maturity in the neural representation of task sets and raising the question which other mechanisms contributed to greater switch costs in late childhood. Building on the insights from Papers 1 and 2, Paper 3 explored how the neural and cognitive processes supporting the development of task switching changed in children that either trained intensive single tasking or intensive task switching over nine weeks. Using drift-diffusion models and fMRI data, I investigated how cognitive and neural processes during task switching changed with training. Faster accumulation of evidence as indicated by increased drift rates, along with decreased activation in the lPFC suggested more efficient rule processing with intensive task-switching training. The accompanying changes in boundary separation further suggested strategy changes, such that children may have allocated cognitive control resources differently, potentially because of improvements in monitoring task demands, enabling them to match their performance accordingly. Taken together, the empirical findings of this dissertation converge to reveal a consistent picture of increasingly more refined recruitment of frontoparietal brain regions, in particular the lPFC, both with age and with intensive training during childhood. They thus raise questions on the role of hierarchical cognitive control and metacontrol processes for developmental improvements of cognitive flexibility. The novel insights into task switching presented in this dissertation thus further our understanding of development and learning in cognitive control, and cognition more generally.Die Fähigkeit zur Anpassung unseres Verhaltens an wechselnde kontextuelle Anforderungen bildet eine wichtige Voraussetzung für die flexible und effiziente Verfolgung von Handlungszielen. Mit zunehmendem Alter gelingt es Kindern besser, zwischen verschiedenen Aufgaben zu wechseln. Im Vergleich zu Erwachsenen lassen sich aber auch am Ende der Kindheit noch Effizienzunterschiede im Aufgabenwechsel nachweisen. Angesichts der hohen Bedeutung kognitiver Flexibilität sind Versuche unternommen worden, die kognitive Flexibilität bei Kindern durch Training zu verbessern. Die theoretische Begründung dieser Trainingsstudien war häufig wenig präzise und die Befundlage entsprechend unklar. In meiner Dissertation gehe ich daher einer überwiegend grundlagenwissenschaftlichen und vorgelagerten Fragestellung nach: Ich untersuche auf behavioraler und neuronaler Ebene die Gründe von Altersunterschieden und Trainingszugewinnen in der kognitiven Flexibilität. Zu diesem Zweck untersuche ich 8–11-jährige Kinder mithilfe von Verhaltensdaten sowie von Bildgebungsdaten der funktionellen Magnetresonanztomographie bezüglich der univariaten Aktivierung, der Konnektivität und der multivariaten Dekodierung von Repräsentationen. In den Schriften 1 und 2 gehe ich zunächst der Frage nach, welche neuronalen Prozesse die Entwicklung der kognitiven Flexibilität unterstützen. Schrift 3 untersucht, wie sich Verhalten und neuronale Prozesse trainingsbedingt verändern. Den drei Schriften habe ich eine Synopse vorangestellt, in der ich den theoretischen Rahmen der Dissertation erläutere und die Befundlage zusammenfasse. Abschließend fasse ich die Ergebnisse meiner Dissertation zusammen und erörtere ihren Beitrag zum Stand der Forschung. Die Kosten eines Aufgabenwechsels zeigen sich in geringerer Genauigkeit und längeren Reaktionszeiten. Dabei stellt der Aufgabenwechsel im Gegensatz zur isolierten Ausführung einzelner Aufgaben höhere Anforderungen an die Aufrechterhaltung und Handhabung mehrerer Aufgabensets (engl. task sets), die mit sogenannten Mischkosten einhergehen. Darüber hinaus stellt der Wechsel zu einer anderen Aufgabe im Vergleich zur Wiederholung derselben Aufgabe erhöhte Anforderungen an die Hemmung des zuvor relevanten Aufgabensets und die Aktualisierung des nun relevanten Aufgabensets, die zu sogenannten Wechselkosten führen. Vorliegende Befunde zeigen, dass Mischkosten und Wechselkosten unterschiedliche Muster von Altersunterschieden aufweisen; dabei nähern sich die Wechselkosten von Kindern dem Niveau von Erwachsenen früher an als die Mischkosten. Die vorliegende Dissertation baut auf diesen Befunden auf und untersucht die Gründe der unterschiedlichen Entwicklungsverläufe von Misch- und Wechselkosten auf behavioraler und neuronaler Ebene. In Schrift 1 untersuche ich den Beitrag andauernder und vorübergehender Kontrollprozesse zu Altersunterschieden in Misch- und Wechselkosten. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Altersunterschiede zwischen Kindern und Erwachsenen in Mischkosten und der damit zusammenhängenden andauernden Aktivierung größer sind als bei den Wechselkosten und der vorübergehenden Aktivierung. Darüber lassen die Ergebnisse von Schrift 1 Rückschlüsse auf einen möglichen alternativen Mechanismus zu, mit dem Kinder erhöhte Anforderungen an die andauernde Kontrolle bewältigen: Kinder, deren andauerndes Aktivierungsmuster weniger dem der Erwachsenen ähnelte, die dafür aber eine stärkere Zunahme der Konnektivität zeigten, wiesen geringere Mischkosten auf. Insgesamt konnte ich in Schrift 1 meiner Dissertation somit zeigen, dass Kinder erhöhte Anforderungen an andauernde Kontrolle während des Aufgabenwechsels auf mindestens zwei Arten bewältigen: (1) durch die erhöhte Aktivierung von Hirnregionen, die auch bei Erwachsenen rekrutiert werden, oder (2) durch erhöhte Konnektivität mit weiteren Hirnregionen im lateralen präfrontalen Kortex, die möglicherweise auf die Beteiligung zusätzlicher Prozesse der Handlungssteuerung hinweisen. Die Zunahme der Fähigkeit zur Repräsentation und handlungsdienlichen Aktivierung mehrerer Regeln könnte einen wichtigen Grund für die zunehmende Genauigkeit und Schnelligkeit des Aufgabenwechsels darstellen. In Schrift 2 habe ich diese Hypothese mit Hilfe einer multivariaten Musteranalyse untersucht, mit der sich der Beitrag der neuronalen Repräsentation von Aufgabenset zu Altersunterschieden im Aufgabenwechsel bestimmen lässt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die neuronalen Aktivierungsmuster bei Aufgaben, denen ein Wechsel von einem Aufgabenset zu einem anderen vorausgeht, weniger Informationen über die aktuell relevante Aufgabe enthielten als bei Aufgaben, denen kein Wechsel vorausgeht. Interessanterweise ließen sich zwischen Kindern und Erwachsenen keine Unterschiede in der wechselbedingten Verringerung der Repräsentationsgüte nachweisen. Dies lässt auf einen bemerkenswerten Reifegrad der neuronalen Repräsentation von Aufgabensets bei den Kindern schließen und wirft die Frage auf, welche weiteren Mechanismen zu den im Vergleich zum Erwachsenenalter erhöhten Wechselkosten in der späten Kindheit beitragen. Aufbauend auf den zuvor gewonnenen Erkenntnissen gilt Schrift 3 meiner Dissertation der detaillierten Untersuchung trainingsbedingter Veränderungen von Aufgabenwechselkosten in der späten Kindheit. Mithilfe von Drift-Diffusionsmodellen habe ich trainingsbedingte Veränderungen in den kognitiven Prozesses des Aufgabenwechsel untersucht. Hier zeigte sich, dass intensives Training des Aufgabenwechsels zu einer schnelleren Evidenzakkumulation für die korrekte Antwort führt. Ein schnelleres Akkumulieren von Evidenz, zusammen mit einer Reduktion der Aktivierung im lateralen präfrontalen Kortex deutet auf eine effizientere Regelverarbeitung durch Training hin. Diese Veränderungen gingen außerdem mit Strategieänderungen einher, sodass die Kinder ihre kognitiven Kontrollressourcen anders zugewiesen haben könnten, möglicherweise aufgrund von Verbesserungen bei der Überwachung der Anforderungen und der entsprechenden Anpassung ihrer Leistung. Zusammengenommen ergeben die empirischen Befunde meiner Dissertation das Bild einer zunehmend verfeinerten Beteiligung frontoparietaler Hirnregionen am Aufgabenwechsel. Dabei scheint der laterale präfrontale Kortex eine wichtige Rolle zu spielen, und zwar sowohl in Bezug auf Altersunterschiede zwischen Kindern und Erwachsenen als auch in Bezug auf trainingsbedingte Veränderungen bei den Kindern. Dies unterstreicht die Bedeutung des lateralen präfrontalen Kortex für hierarchische Kontrollprozesse sowie deren Beitrag zur Entwicklung der kognitiven Flexibilität im Kindesalter. Die Ergebnisse meiner Dissertation erweitern das Verständnis des Beitrags kognitiver Kontrollprozesse zur kognitiven Entwicklung. Sie bilden zugleich eine Grundlage für weiterführende Untersuchungen des Zusammenspiels erfahrungsbedingter und reifungsbedingter Einflüsse auf die kognitive Entwicklung im Kindesalter

Subliminal and supraliminal processing of reward-related stimuli in anorexia nervosa

Background. Previous studies have highlighted the role of the brain reward and cognitive control systems in the etiology of anorexia nervosa (AN). In an attempt to disentangle the relative contribution of these systems to the disorder, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate hemodynamic responses to reward-related stimuli presented both subliminally and supraliminally in acutely underweight AN patients and age-matched healthy controls (HC). Methods. fMRI data were collected from a total of 35 AN patients and 35 HC, while they passively viewed subliminally and supraliminally presented streams of food, positive social, and neutral stimuli. Activation patterns of the group × stimulation condition × stimulus type interaction were interrogated to investigate potential group differences in processing different stimulus types under the two stimulation conditions. Moreover, changes in functional connectivity were investigated using generalized psychophysiological interaction analysis. Results. AN patients showed a generally increased response to supraliminally presented stimuli in the inferior frontal junction (IFJ), but no alterations within the reward system. Increased activation during supraliminal stimulation with food stimuli was observed in the AN group in visual regions including superior occipital gyrus and the fusiform gyrus/parahippocampal gyrus. No group difference was found with respect to the subliminal stimulation condition and functional connectivity. Conclusion. Increased IFJ activation in AN during supraliminal stimulation may indicate hyperactive cognitive control, which resonates with clinical presentation of excessive self-control in AN patients. Increased activation to food stimuli in visual regions may be interpreted in light of an attentional food bias in AN