title: Attention reorganizes connectivity across networks in a frequency specific manner.
abstract: Attention allows our brain to focus its limited resources on a given task. It does so by selective modulation of neural activity and of functional connectivity (FC) across brain-wide networks. While there is extensive literature on activity changes, surprisingly few studies examined brain-wide FC modulations that can be cleanly attributed to attention compared to matched visual processing. In contrast to prior approaches, we used an ultra-long trial design that avoided transients from trial onsets, included slow fluctuations (<0.1Hz) that carry important information on FC, and allowed for frequency-segregated analyses. We found that FC derived from long blocks had a nearly two-fold higher gain compared to FC derived from traditional (short) block designs. Second, attention enhanced intrinsic (negative or positive) correlations across networks, such as between the default-mode network (DMN), the dorsal attention network (DAN), and the visual system (VIS). In contrast attention de-correlated the intrinsically correlated visual regions. Third, the de-correlation within VIS was driven primarily by high frequencies, whereas the increase in DAN-VIS predominantly by low frequencies. These results pinpoint two fundamentally distinct effects of attention on connectivity. Information flow increases between distinct large-scale networks, and de-correlation within sensory cortex indicates decreased redundancy.
authors.affiliation: Vision and Cognition Lab, Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany; Department of Psychology, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany; Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, 72076 Tübingen, Germany; International Max Planck Research School for Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Soyoung
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, 72076 Tübingen, Germany; Department of Systems Innovation, University of Tokyo, 113-0033 Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Masataka
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.affiliation: Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre, 2650 Hvidovre, Denmark.
authors.forename: Elvira
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.affiliation: Vision and Cognition Lab, Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany; Department of Psychology, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany; Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, 72076 Tübingen, Germany. Electronic address: andreas.bartels@tuebingen.mpg.de.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bartels
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D063132:Connectome / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009039:Motion Perception / Q000502:physiology; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology*; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Attention; Functional connectivity; Parietal cortex; Visual cortex; fMRI