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Default Mode Network spatial configuration varies across task domains

Lorenzo Mancuso, Sara Cavuoti-Cabanillas, Donato Liloia, Jordi Manuello, Giulia Buzi, Sergio Duca, Franco Cauda, Tommaso Costa

preprint DOI: 10.1101/2021.03.17.435799 (opens in new tab)

Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Meta-analysis
Topics Default mode network
Key findings Argues that the Default Mode Network is not a unitary, rest-associated system but shows richer functional diversity and spatial complexity. Activation maps arranged along an anatomical-psychological gradient from midline core (internal functions) to lateral cortices (external tasks), with the extrinsic mode especially related to reward, semantic, and emotional functions. No map or linear combination represented the full space of its dynamic reconfiguration.

Abstract

Abstract: Recent developments in network neuroscience suggest reconsidering what we thought we knew about the Default Mode Network (DMN). Although this network has always been seen as unitary and associated with the resting state, a new deconstructive line of research is pointing out that the DMN could be divided into multiple subsystems supporting different functions. By now, it is well known that the DMN is not only deactivated by tasks, but also involved in affective, mnestic, and social paradigms, among others. Nonetheless, it is starting to become clear that the array of activities in which it is involved, might also be extended to more extrinsic functions. The present meta-analytic study is meant to push this boundary a bit further. The BrainMap database was searched for all experimental paradigms activating the DMN, and their activation maps were then computed. An additional map of task-induced deactivations was also created. A Multidimensional Scaling indicated that such maps could be arranged along an anatomo-psychological gradient, which goes from midline core activations, associated with the most internal functions, to the involvement of lateral cortices in more external tasks. Further investigations suggested that such extrinsic mode is especially related to reward, semantic, and emotional functions. However, an important finding was that the variability of task-induced DMN anatomic redistribution was hard to recapitulate, as none of the maps, or any linear combination of them, could represent the whole space of its dynamical reconfiguration. Altogether, our findings suggest that the DMN may be characterized by a richer functional diversity and a more spatial complexity than previously suggested.

Comparable studies

Other systematic reviews and meta-analyses on default mode network, most cited first.

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