scholarly journals Backtracking during navigation is correlated with enhanced anterior cingulate activity and suppression of alpha oscillations and the ‘default-mode’ network

2019 ◽  
Vol 286 (1908) ◽  
pp. 20191016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amir-Homayoun Javadi ◽  
Eva Zita Patai ◽  
Eugenia Marin-Garcia ◽  
Aaron Margois ◽  
Heng-Ru M. Tan ◽  
...  

Successful navigation can require realizing the current path choice was a mistake and the best strategy is to retreat along the recent path: ‘back-track’. Despite the wealth of studies on the neural correlates of navigation little is known about backtracking. To explore the neural underpinnings of backtracking we tested humans during functional magnetic resonance imaging on their ability to navigate to a set of goal locations in a virtual desert island riven by lava which constrained the paths that could be taken. We found that on a subset of trials, participants spontaneously chose to backtrack and that the majority of these choices were optimal. During backtracking, activity increased in frontal regions and the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, while activity was suppressed in regions associated with the core default-mode network. Using the same task, magnetoencephalography and a separate group of participants, we found that power in the alpha band was significantly decreased immediately prior to such backtracking events. These results highlight the importance for navigation of brain networks previously identified in processing internally-generated errors and that such error-detection responses may involve shifting the brain from default-mode states to aid successful spatial orientation.

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amir-Homayoun Javadi ◽  
Eva Zita Patai ◽  
Eugenia Marin-Garcia ◽  
Aaron Margois ◽  
Heng-Ru M. Tan ◽  
...  

AbstractCentral to the concept of the ‘cognitive map’ is that it confers behavioural flexibility, allowing animals to take efficient detours, exploit shortcuts and realise the need to back-track rather than persevere on a poorly chosen route. The neural underpinnings of such naturalistic and flexible behaviour remain unclear. During fMRI we tested human subjects on their ability to navigate to a set of goal locations in a virtual desert island riven by lava, which occasionally shifted to block selected paths (necessitating detours) or receded to open new paths (affording shortcuts). We found that during self-initiated back-tracking, activity increased in frontal regions and the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, while activity in regions associated with the core default-mode network was suppressed. Detours activated a network of frontal regions compared to shortcuts. Activity in right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex specifically increased when participants encountered new plausible shortcuts but which in fact added to the path (false shortcuts). These results help inform current models as to how the brain supports navigation and planning in dynamic environments.Significance StatementAdaptation to change is important for survival. Although real-world spatial environments are prone to continual change, little is known about how the brain supports navigation in dynamic environments where flexible adjustments to route plans are needed. Here, we used fMRI to examine the brain activity elicited when humans took forced detours, identified shortcuts and spontaneously back-tracked along their recent path. Both externally and internally generated changes in the route activated the fronto-parietal attention network, whereas only internally generated changes generated increased activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex with a concomitant disengagement in regions associated with the default-mode network. The results provide new insights into how the brain plans and re-plans in the face of a changing environment.


2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 312-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenyu Tu ◽  
Zilu Ma ◽  
Yuncong Ma ◽  
David Dopfel ◽  
Nanyin Zhang

Abstract The default mode network (DMN) is a principal brain network in the mammalian brain. Although the DMN in humans has been extensively studied with respect to network structure, function, and clinical implications, our knowledge of DMN in animals remains limited. In particular, the functional role of DMN nodes, and how DMN organization relates to DMN-relevant behavior are still elusive. Here we investigated the causal relationship of inactivating a pivotal node of DMN (i.e., dorsal anterior cingulate cortex [dACC]) on DMN function, network organization, and behavior by combining chemogenetics, resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) and behavioral tests in awake rodents. We found that suppressing dACC activity profoundly changed the activity and connectivity of DMN, and these changes were associated with altered DMN-related behavior in animals. The chemo-rsfMRI-behavior approach opens an avenue to mechanistically dissecting the relationships between a specific node, brain network function, and behavior. Our data suggest that, like in humans, DMN in rodents is a functional network with coordinated activity that mediates behavior.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad S. E. Sendi ◽  
Elaheh Zendehrouh ◽  
Charles A. Ellis ◽  
Zhijia Liang ◽  
Zening Fu ◽  
...  

Background: Schizophrenia affects around 1% of the global population. Functional connectivity extracted from resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) has previously been used to study schizophrenia and has great potential to provide novel insights into the disorder. Some studies have shown abnormal functional connectivity in the default mode network (DMN) of individuals with schizophrenia, and more recent studies have shown abnormal dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) in individuals with schizophrenia. However, DMN dFC and the link between abnormal DMN dFC and symptom severity have not been well-characterized.Method: Resting-state fMRI data from subjects with schizophrenia (SZ) and healthy controls (HC) across two datasets were analyzed independently. We captured seven maximally independent subnodes in the DMN by applying group independent component analysis and estimated dFC between subnode time courses using a sliding window approach. A clustering method separated the dFCs into five reoccurring brain states. A feature selection method modeled the difference between SZs and HCs using the state-specific FC features. Finally, we used the transition probability of a hidden Markov model to characterize the link between symptom severity and dFC in SZ subjects.Results: We found decreases in the connectivity of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and increases in the connectivity between the precuneus (PCu) and the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) (i.e., PCu/PCC) of SZ subjects. In SZ, the transition probability from a state with weaker PCu/PCC and stronger ACC connectivity to a state with stronger PCu/PCC and weaker ACC connectivity increased with symptom severity.Conclusions: To our knowledge, this was the first study to investigate DMN dFC and its link to schizophrenia symptom severity. We identified reproducible neural states in a data-driven manner and demonstrated that the strength of connectivity within those states differed between SZs and HCs. Additionally, we identified a relationship between SZ symptom severity and the dynamics of DMN functional connectivity. We validated our results across two datasets. These results support the potential of dFC for use as a biomarker of schizophrenia and shed new light upon the relationship between schizophrenia and DMN dynamics.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisa Filevich ◽  
Caroline Garcia Forlim ◽  
Carmen Fehrman ◽  
Carina Forster ◽  
Markus Paulus ◽  
...  

Research Highlights[1] Children develop the ability to report that they do not know something at around five years of age.[2] Children who could correctly report their own ignorance in a partial-knowledge task showed thicker cortices within medial orbitofrontal cortex.[3] This region was functionally connected to parts of the default-mode network.[4] The default-mode network might support the development of correct metacognitive monitoring.AbstractMetacognition plays a pivotal role in human development. The ability to realize that we do not know something, or meta-ignorance, emerges after approximately five years of age. We aimed at identifying the brain systems that underlie the developmental emergence of this ability in a preschool sample.Twenty-four children aged between five and six years answered questions under three conditions of a meta-ignorance task twice. In the critical partial knowledge condition, an experimenter first showed two toys to a child, then announced that she would place one of them in a box behind a screen, out of sight from the child. The experimenter then asked the child whether or not she knew which toy was in the box.Children who answered correctly both times to the metacognitive question in the partial knowledge condition (n=9) showed greater cortical thickness in a cluster within left medial orbitofrontal cortex than children who did not (n=15). Further, seed-based functional connectivity analyses of the brain during resting state revealed that this region is functionally connected to the medial orbitofrontal gyrus, posterior cingulate gyrus and precuneus, and mid- and inferior temporal gyri.This finding suggests that the default mode network, critically through its prefrontal regions, supports introspective processing. It leads to the emergence of metacognitive monitoring allowing children to explicitly report their own ignorance.


Author(s):  
Bhuvaneshwari Bhaskaran ◽  
Kavitha Anandan

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive brain disorder which has a long preclinical phase. The beta-amyloid plaques and tangles in the brain are considered as the main pathological causes. Functional connectivity is typically examined in capturing brain network dynamics in AD. A definitive underconnectivity is observed in patients through the progressive stages of AD. Graph theoretic modeling approaches have been effective in understanding the brain dynamics. In this article, the brain connectivity patterns and the functional topology through the progression of Alzheimer's disease are analysed using resting state fMRI. The altered network topology is analysed by graphed theoretical measures and explains cognitive deficits caused by the progression of this disease. Results show that the functional topology is disrupted in the default mode network regions as the disease progresses in patients. Further, it is observed that there is a lack of left lateralization involving default mode network regions as the severity in AD increases.


2018 ◽  
Vol 119 (5) ◽  
pp. 1592-1594
Author(s):  
Casey Swick ◽  
Tiffany Andersen ◽  
Ana-Mercedes Flores

Illuminating the pathophysiological mechanisms that underlie persistent postconcussive symptoms following mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is a growing area of study. Alhourani et al. ( J Neurophysiol 116: 1840–1847, 2016) added to this emerging body of literature with their study examining default mode network disruption in mTBI using magnetoencephalography. The findings provided enhanced insight into the neural underpinnings of mTBI, which can be applied to future clinical and experimental research in this area.


2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (6) ◽  
pp. 1352-1357 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jayakrishnan Nair ◽  
Arndt-Lukas Klaassen ◽  
Jozsef Arato ◽  
Alexei L. Vyssotski ◽  
Michael Harvey ◽  
...  

The default mode network (DMN) is a collection of cortical brain regions that is active during states of rest or quiet wakefulness in humans and other mammalian species. A pertinent characteristic of the DMN is a suppression of local field potential gamma activity during cognitive task performance as well as during engagement with external sensory stimuli. Conversely, gamma activity is elevated in the DMN during rest. Here, we document that the rat basal forebrain (BF) exhibits the same pattern of responses, namely pronounced gamma oscillations during quiet wakefulness in the home cage and suppression of this activity during active exploration of an unfamiliar environment. We show that gamma oscillations are localized to the BF and that gamma-band activity in the BF has a directional influence on a hub of the rat DMN, the anterior cingulate cortex, during DMN-dominated brain states. The BF is well known as an ascending, activating, neuromodulatory system involved in wake–sleep regulation, memory formation, and regulation of sensory information processing. Our findings suggest a hitherto undocumented role of the BF as a subcortical node of the DMN, which we speculate may be important for switching between internally and externally directed brain states. We discuss potential BF projection circuits that could underlie its role in DMN regulation and highlight that certain BF nuclei may provide potential target regions for up- or down-regulation of DMN activity that might prove useful for treatment of DMN dysfunction in conditions such as epilepsy or major depressive disorder.


2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonghan Shin ◽  
Vladimir Kepe ◽  
Gary W. Small ◽  
Michael E. Phelps ◽  
Jorge R. Barrio

The spatial correlations between the brain's default mode network (DMN) and the brain regions known to develop pathophysiology in Alzheimer's disease (AD) have recently attracted much attention. In this paper, we compare results of different functional and structural imaging modalities, including MRI and PET, and highlight different patterns of anomalies observed within the DMN. Multitracer PET imaging in subjects with and without dementia has demonstrated that [C-11]PIB- and [F-18]FDDNP-binding patterns in patients with AD overlap within nodes of the brain's default network including the prefrontal, lateral parietal, lateral temporal, and posterior cingulate cortices, with the exception of the medial temporal cortex (especially, the hippocampus) where significant discrepancy between increased [F-18]FDDNP binding and negligible [C-11]PIB-binding was observed. [F-18]FDDNP binding in the medial temporal cortex—a key constituent of the DMN—coincides with both the presence of amyloid and tau pathology, and also with cortical areas with maximal atrophy as demonstrated by T1-weighted MR imaging of AD patients.


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