Dissociations in the neural basis of task focus
Poster No:
847
Submission Type:
Abstract Submission
Authors:
Chen Chen1, Katya Krieger-Redwood1, Meichao Zhang2, Jonathan Smallwood3, Elizabeth Jefferies4
Institutions:
1University of York, York, North Yorkshire, 2Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, Beijing, 3Queens University, Kingston, Ontario, 4University of York, York, York
First Author:
Co-Author(s):
Introduction:
Mind wandering, characterized by drifting attention from a task to unrelated thoughts, is associated with perceptual decoupling of the default mode network [1, 2]. Mind wandering during reading can be induced by presenting difficult texts [3, 4], while in non-semantic contexts, mind-wandering is more frequent in easy tasks. This fMRI study explored the neural mechanisms that underpin these opposing effects of difficulty in semantic or non-semantic tasks to test the hypothesis that both memory and control systems can sustain task focus.
Methods:
We employed a within-subjects 2 × 2 design manipulating task (Comprehension vs. Adding) and difficulty (Easy vs. Hard). 35 participants were recruited (18-29 Years, 26 females, 1 exclusion). Outside the scanner, participants generated thoughts linked to a cue word (e.g., lottery win). In the scanner, participants retrieved personal thoughts from this cue and then performed a reading comprehension or serial addition task. After each trial, participants rated their focus on the reading or adding task on a 7-point scale. We performed univariate analysis using a general linear model to identify (i) neural differences across these tasks and (ii) parametric effects of ratings.
Results:
Participants were less focused during hard than easy comprehension yet were more likely to mind-wander during easy than hard serial addition. Activation was higher in left posterior temporal regions during easy comprehension, and in left frontal cortex, angular gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus and posterior cingulate in easy addition. In contrast, the hard addition task engaged more bilateral ventral visual regions, postcentral/precentral gyrus and supplementary motor cortex. Stronger task focus during comprehension was associated with more activation in visual, somatomotor, auditory and dorsomedial DMN regions, along with deactivation in core DMN subsystem, salience, control regions and dorsal attention network (DAN). This shows that activation of some DMN regions increases with higher task focus during comprehension, while control regions can deactivate in the same circumstances. In contrast, greater task focus in serial addition was associated with increased activation in somatomotor and primary visual cortex, and deactivation in medial visual and DAN. Regions in dorsal medial DMN and the auditory network showed a stronger effect of task focus during the comprehension task. In contrast, regions in core DMN and control networks showed a stronger effect of task focus for the addition task, relative to comprehension, showing a dissociation in the processes that maintain task-focussed cognition.
Conclusions:
These results confirm that both control and DMN networks can sustain cognitive focus, with dorsomedial DMN activating more when people focus on comprehension, and core DMN deactivating more when people focus on adding. These results are consistent with the view that both memory and control networks support task focus, and that in comprehension tasks, the deactivation of control networks is associated with better focus. The engagement of semantic DMN regions might allow easy texts to suppress mind-wandering, since semantic information is no longer available to drive off-task states.
Higher Cognitive Functions:
Executive Function, Cognitive Control and Decision Making 2
Language:
Reading and Writing
Learning and Memory:
Long-Term Memory (Episodic and Semantic) 1
Novel Imaging Acquisition Methods:
BOLD fMRI
Keywords:
Cognition
FUNCTIONAL MRI
Language
Memory
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
Abstract Information
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Provide references using APA citation style.
2. Zhang, M., et al., Perceptual coupling and decoupling of the default mode network during mind-wandering and reading. Elife, 2022. 11.
3. Kahmann, R., et al., Mind wandering increases linearly with text difficulty. Psychol Res, 2022. 86(1): p. 284-293.
4. Smallwood, J., Mind-wandering While Reading: Attentional Decoupling, Mindless Reading and the Cascade Model of Inattention. Language and Linguistics Compass, 2011. 5(2): p. 63-77.