Coexistence of the Social Semantic Effect and Non-Semantic Effect in the Default Mode Network
Guangyao Zhang, Jinyi Hung, Nan Lin
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | fMRI experiment |
|---|---|
| Topics | Default mode network |
| Key findings | Within the DMN's social semantic network, all areas showed social semantic activation and difficulty-induced deactivation, and the ventral angular gyrus showed social semantic activation independent of difficulty. |
Abstract
Abstract Neuroimaging studies have found both semantic and non-semantic effects in the default mode network (DMN), leading to an intense debate on the role of the DMN in semantic processes. Four different views have been proposed: 1) The general semantic view holds that the DMN contains several hub regions supporting general semantic processes; 2) the non-semantic view holds that the semantic effects observed in most regions of the DMN (especially the ventral angular gyrus) are confounded by difficulty and do not reflect semantic processing per se; 3) the multifunction view holds that the same areas in the DMN can support both semantic and non-semantic functions; and 4) the multisystem view holds that the DMN contains multiple subnetworks supporting different aspects of semantic processes separately. Using an fMRI experiment, we found that in one of the subnetworks of the DMN, called the social semantic network, all areas showed social semantic activation and difficulty-induced deactivation. The ventral angular gyrus, whose function had been interpreted according to the difficulty effect, showed social semantic activation independent of difficulty. In addition, the distributions of two non-semantic effects, that is, difficulty-induced and task-induced deactivations, showed dissociation in the DMN. Our findings provide two insights into the semantic and non-semantic functions of the DMN, which are consistent with both the multisystem and multifunction views: First, the same areas of the DMN can support both social semantic and non-semantic functions; second, similar to the multiple semantic effects of the DMN, the non-semantic effects also vary across its subsystems.
Comparable studies
Other experimental studies on default mode network, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Functional connectivity of default mode network components: Correlation, anticorrelation, and causality Healthy subjects | 2008 | Observational study using resting-state fMRI and seed correlation analysis | |
| Patterns of Brain Activity Supporting Autobiographical Memory, Prospection, and Theory of Mind, and Their Relationship to the Default Mode Network Healthy subjects | 2009 | Experimental study using fMRI | |
| Dynamic reconfiguration of the default mode network during narrative comprehension Human subjects | 2016 | Experimental study | |
| Broadband Cortical Desynchronization Underlies the Human Psychedelic State Healthy human participants | 2013 | Experimental study | |
| The brain on art: intense aesthetic experience activates the default mode network Human observers | 2012 | Observational study with fMRI and behavioral analysis |
Citations in the library
Cites 3
- A default mode of brain function Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences January 16, 2001
- The default mode network in cognition: a topographical perspective Nature Reviews Neuroscience July 5, 2021
- Establishing task- and modality-dependent dissociations between the semantic and default mode networks Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences June 8, 2015