Subspecialization within default mode nodes characterized in 10,000 UK Biobank participants
Kernbach JM., Yeo BTT., Smallwood J., Margulies DS., Thiebaut de Schotten M., Walter H., Sabuncu MR., Holmes AJ., Gramfort A., Varoquaux G., Thirion B., Bzdok D.
SignificanceThe default mode network (DMN) encompasses supramodal association areas involved in higher-order cognition. One speculation is that this neural system is important for brain-wide information flow. We tested this account by exploring whether DMN patterns are informative about functional coupling or structural associations in the rest of the brain. Our multimodal pattern analysis findings highlight how the DMN nodes are fractionated: In specific subnodes, gray-matter morphology was linked to fiber tracts from the hippocampus in the medial temporal limbic system. In adjacent subnodes, fluctuations in neural activity were linked to between-network connectivity shifts. Such a mosaic architecture may be a prerequisite for many of the roles the DMN may play in advanced cognitive processes.