Contributions of default mode network stability and deactivation to adolescent task engagement
Scientific Reports December 21, 2018 Ethan M. McCormick, Eva H. Telzer
During a risky decision-making task, the stability of default mode network (DMN) suppression, rather than its absolute level of deactivation, predicted how well adolescents learned from feedback. Among 65 adolescents (mean age 13.32, 21 females), those with more stable DMN activation across time showed greater task engagement. The finding suggests a new mechanism for how the brain down-regulates internally-directed cognition to support goal-directed behavior, highlighting the value of model-based network approaches for studying brain dynamics.