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Roles of the default mode and multiple-demand networks in naturalistic versus symbolic decisions
Authors:
SMITH, V., DUNCAN, J.D., MITCHELL, D.
Reference:
Journal of Neuroscience, 41(10), 2214-2228
Year of publication:
2021
CBU number:
8593
Abstract:
The default mode network (DMN) is often associated with representing semantic, social and situational content of contexts and episodes. The DMN may therefore be important for contextual decision-making, through representing situational constraints and simulating common courses of events. Most decision-making paradigms, however, use symbolic stimuli and instead implicate cognitive control regions such as the multiple demand (MD) system. This fMRI study aimed to contrast the brain mechanisms underlying decision-making based on rich naturalistic contexts or symbolic cues. Whilst performing an ongoing task, 40 human participants (25 female) responded to different sounds. For one sound, the stimulus-response mapping was fixed; responses for the other sounds depended on the visual context: either lifelike scenes or letter symbols, varying across participants. Despite minimal behavioural differences between the groups, posterior DMN regions showed increased activity during context-dependent decision-making using the naturalistic scenes only, compared to symbolic cues. More anterior temporal and frontal DMN regions showed a different pattern, with sensitivity to the need for contextual control, but not to the type of context. Furthermore, in the scenes group, widespread DMN regions showed stronger representation of not just the context but also the sound whose significance it modulated. In comparison, the MD system showed strong univariate activity for every decision, but, intriguingly, somewhat reduced activity in the case of a scene-based but demanding context-dependent decisions. Depending on context, we suggest, either DMN or MD regions may play a prominent role in selection and control of appropriate behaviour.
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