Frontal parietal control network regulates the anti-correlated default and dorsal attention networks

Abstract

Recent reports demonstrate the anti-correlated behaviors between the default (DF) and the dorsal attention (DA) networks. We aimed to investigate the roles of the frontal parietal control (FPC) network in regulating the two anti-correlated networks through three experimental conditions, including resting, continuous self-paced/attended sequential finger tapping (FT), and natural movie watching (MW), respectively. The two goal-directed tasks were chosen to engage either one of the two competing networks-FT for DA whereas MW for default. We hypothesized that FPC will selectively augment/suppress either network depending on how the task targets the specific network; FPC will positively correlate with the target network, but negatively correlate with the network anti-correlated with the target network. We further hypothesized that significant causal links from FPC to both DA and DF are present during all three experimental conditions, supporting the initiative regulating role of FPC over the two opposing systems. Consistent with our hypotheses, FPC exhibited a significantly higher positive correlation with DA (P = 0.0095) whereas significantly more negative correlation with default (P = 0.0025) during FT when compared to resting. Completely opposite to that observed during FT, the FPC was significantly anti-correlated with DA (P = 2.1e-6) whereas positively correlated with default (P = 0.0035) during MW. Furthermore, extensive causal links from FPC to both DA and DF were observed across all three experimental states. Together, our results strongly support the notion that the FPC regulates the anti-correlated default and DA networks.

Figure 1

The anatomical locations of the five predefined networks are shown, including the dorsal attention (DA), the default, the frontal parietal control (FPC), visual (V), and motor‐sensory (MS) networks, respectively. The MNI coordinates for each region along with the exact anatomical locations for the abbreviations are provided in Table I.

Figure 2

(a) The group mean correlation matrices for resting and finger tapping are shown, respectively. Only the significant correlations are shown here. The hot colors indicate positive correlation whereas the cold colors reflect negative correlation. Each black box highlights the correlation within each network. (b) Six pairs of networks are significantly changed from resting to FT. Each bar chart shown in (b) represents the correlation values during resting (left) and FT (right) for each pair of networks. Black dots represent the individual correlation values overlaid on the bar plots and statistically significant values are represented by colored asterisks. Red: significantly positive correlations; Blue: significantly negative correlations. Finally, the P value associated with the comparison between the pair of networks is provided at the top of each bar chart. DA, dorsal attention; DF, default; FPC, frontal parietal control; MS, motor‐sensory; V, visual networks.

Figure 3

(a) The group mean correlation matrices for resting and natural movie watching are shown, respectively. Only the significant correlations are shown here. The hot colors indicate positive correlation whereas the cold colors reflect negative correlation. Each black box highlights the correlation within each network. (b) Three pairs of networks are significantly changed from resting to MV whereas no significant changes are observed between DA and default. Each bar chart shown in (b) represents the correlation values during resting (left) and MW (right) for each pair of networks. Black dots represent the individual correlation values overlaid on the bar plots and statistically significant values are represented by colored asterisks. Red: significantly positive correlations; Blue: significantly negative correlations. Finally, the P value associated with the comparison between the pair of networks is provided at the top of each bar chart. DA, dorsal attention; DF, default; FPC, frontal parietal control; V, visual networks.

Figure 4

Significant causal interactions between pairs of regions among the three networks: DA, default and FPC. Pink lines: from FPC to DA/default; cyan lines: from DA/default to FPC; gray lines: between DA and default.

Figure 5

The mediation effects of FPC on the interaction between DA and default for (a) resting, (b) finger tapping, and (c) movie watching, respectively. (d) Comparison of FPC's mediating role across the three experimental conditions. RS, resting; FT, finger tapping; MW, movie watching.