title: The Persistence of Experience: Prior Attentional and Emotional State Affects Network Functioning in a Target Detection Task.
abstract: Efficient, adaptive behavior relies on the ability to flexibly move between internally focused (IF) and externally focused (EF) attentional states. Despite evidence that IF cognitive processes such as event imagination comprise a significant amount of awake cognition, the consequences of internal absorption on the subsequent recruitment of brain networks during EF tasks are unknown. The present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study employed a novel attentional state switching task. Subjects imagined positive and negative events (IF task) or performed a working memory task (EF task) before switching to a target detection (TD) task also requiring attention to external information, allowing for the investigation of neural functioning during external attention based on prior attentional state. There was a robust increase of activity in frontal, parietal, and temporal regions during TD when subjects were previously performing the EF compared with IF task, an effect that was most pronounced following negative IF. Additionally, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex was less negatively coupled with ventromedial prefrontal and posterior cingulate cortices during TD following IF compared with EF. These findings reveal the striking consequences for brain activity following immersion in an IF attentional state, which have strong implications for psychiatric disorders characterized by excessive internal focus.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY Fishberg Department of Neuroscience and Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY.
authors.forename: Emily R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Stern
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY Fishberg Department of Neuroscience and Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY.
authors.forename: Alexandra F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Muratore
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Stephan F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: James L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Abelson
authors.affiliation: Fishberg Department of Neuroscience and Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY.
authors.forename: Patrick R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Hof
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY Fishberg Department of Neuroscience and Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY.
authors.forename: Wayne K
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Goodman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology*; D000367:Age Factors; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007092:Imagination; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D011601:Psychophysics; D011930:Reaction Time; D017603:Signal Detection, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen
keywords: default mode; external cognition; fronto-parietal; internal cognition; switching