Assessing the function of the fronto‐parietal attention network: Insights from resting‐state fMRI and the attentional network test

Abstract

In the recent past, various intrinsic connectivity networks (ICN) have been identified in the resting brain. It has been hypothesized that the fronto-parietal ICN is involved in attentional processes. Evidence for this claim stems from task-related activation studies that show a joint activation of the implicated brain regions during tasks that require sustained attention. In this study, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to demonstrate that functional connectivity within the fronto-parietal network at rest directly relates to attention. We applied graph theory to functional connectivity data from multiple regions of interest and tested for associations with behavioral measures of attention as provided by the attentional network test (ANT), which we acquired in a separate session outside the MRI environment. We found robust statistical associations with centrality measures of global and local connectivity of nodes within the network with the alerting and executive control subfunctions of attention. The results provide further evidence for the functional significance of ICN and the hypothesized role of the fronto-parietal attention network.

Associations of Resting-State fMRI Functional Connectivity with Flow-BOLD Coupling and Regional Vasculature

“…Note that the rs-fcMRI-strength map is simply an average of functional connectivity maps generated using all seeds of the selected resting-state network (Biswal et al, 1995;Fox et al, 2005;Liu et al, 2010), and this measure has been used in numerous studies that investigate the nature of restingstate functional connectivity (Liang et al, 2013;Liu et al, 2010;Markett et al, 2014;Van Dijk et al, 2012). Thus, correlations-based rs-fcMRI estimation is also their metric of choice, as they would like to maximize the applicability of their findings to the field.…”

“…Restingstate fcMRI has enabled the mapping of major functional networks of the brain, starting with the motor network (Biswal et al, 1995) and expanding to include other highly reproducible networks such as the default mode network (Greicius et al, 2003) and the frontoparietal network (Fox et al, 2005;Markett et al, 2014;Toro et al, 2008). Today, the impact of rs-fcMRI in basic neuroscience and clinical research is immense (Buckner et al, 2013;Fox and Greicius, 2010).…”

Network Neuroscience and Personality

“…Network aspects of individual differences in cognition are just as relevant for personality network neuroscience as the more narrow focus on personality taxonomies such as the Big Five. Several studies have addressed network aspects of ability traits such as working memory capacity, attentional ability, and general intelligence (Hilger, Ekman, Fiebach, & Basten, 2017;Markett et al, 2014Markett et al, , 2018van den Heuvel, Stam, Kahn, & Hulshoff Pol, 2009). This research can also be relevant for understanding more cognitive aspects of the Big Five, such as conscientiousness, which is mostly uncorrelated with cognitive ability (but see Chamorro-Premuzic & Furnham, 2004), but paradoxically related to similar brain regions (Allen & DeYoung, 2017).…”

Estudo psicofísico da atenção visual e avaliação cognitiva em adolescentes com TDAH

“…Estudos com IRMf (Markett et al, 2014) demonstraram que, enquanto o indivíduo faz uma tarefa atencional existem mudanças locais no fluxo sanguíneo ou no metabolismo da atividade neuronal das regiões frontoparietais do cérebro. A circuitaria frontoparietal, formada por um sistema de regulação atencional anterior e outro posterior, exerce a atividade atencional relacionada à seletividade dos estímulos e inibição de respostas por meio das FEs (Guardiola, 2015;Markett et al, 2014;Spreng et al, 2013).…”

“…A circuitaria frontoparietal, formada por um sistema de regulação atencional anterior e outro posterior, exerce a atividade atencional relacionada à seletividade dos estímulos e inibição de respostas por meio das FEs (Guardiola, 2015;Markett et al, 2014;Spreng et al, 2013).…”