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. 2019 Jan 4;14(1):e0209376.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0209376. eCollection 2019.

Shared and differential default-mode related patterns of activity in an autobiographical, a self-referential and an attentional task

Paola Fuentes-Claramonte  1   2 , Marta Martín-Subero  1   2   3 , Pilar Salgado-Pineda  1   2 , Silvia Alonso-Lana  1   2 , Ana Moreno-Alcázar  2   4   5 , Isabel Argila-Plaza  1 , Aniol Santo-Angles  1 , Anton Albajes-Eizagirre  1   2 , Maria Anguera-Camós  1 , Antoni Capdevila  6   7 , Salvador Sarró  1   2 , Peter J McKenna  1   2 , Edith Pomarol-Clotet  1   2 , Raymond Salvador  1   2
Affiliations

Shared and differential default-mode related patterns of activity in an autobiographical, a self-referential and an attentional task

Paola Fuentes-Claramonte et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

The default-mode network (DMN) comprises a set of brain regions that show deactivations during performance of attentionally demanding tasks, but also activation during certain processes including recall of autobiographical memories and processing information about oneself, among others. However, the DMN is not activated in a homogeneous manner during performance of such tasks, so it is not clear to what extent its activation patterns correspond to deactivation patterns seen during attention-demanding tasks. In this fMRI study we compared patterns of activation in response to an autobiographical memory task to those observed in a self/other-reflection task, and compared both to deactivations observed during the n-back working memory task. Autobiographical recall and self-reflection activated several common DMN areas, which were also deactivated below baseline levels by the n-back task. Activation in the medial temporal lobe was seen during autobiographical recall but not the self/other task, and right angular gyrus activity was specifically linked to other-reflection. ROI analysis showed that most, but not all DMN regions were activated above baseline levels during the autobiographical memory and self-reflection tasks. Our results provide evidence for the usefulness of the autobiographical memory task to study DMN activity and support the notion of interacting subsystems within this network.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Activation map for the autobiographical memory task.
Warm colors represent memory > control contrast, cold colors represent control > memory contrast. Numbers indicate z coordinate in MNI space. Images are displayed in neurological convention (right is right). Color bar depicts Z values.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Activation map for the self-reflection task.
Warm colors represent self > facts (upper row), other > facts (middle row) and other > self (lower row) contrasts, cold colors represent facts > self (upper row) and facts > other (middle row) contrasts. Numbers indicate z coordinate in MNI space. Images are displayed in neurological convention (right is right). Color bar depicts Z values.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Activation map for the n-back task.
Warm colors show activation of the 2-back condition compared to baseline, cold colors show deactivation. Numbers indicate z coordinate in MNI space. Images are displayed in neurological convention (right is right). Color bar depicts Z values.
Fig 4
Fig 4. Activation in DMN regions in ROI analysis.
Vertical axis shows parameter estimates. *p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001(the last being equivalent to a Bonferroni corrected p<0.05).
Fig 5
Fig 5. Overlap between activated areas in autobiographical memory and self-reflection, and deactivated areas in 2-back, compared to fixation.
(A) Activation maps for autobiographical memory (red) and self-reflection (blue). Overlap is shown in purple. (B) Activation maps for autobiographical memory (red) and 2-back deactivation (yellow). Overlap is shown in orange. (C) Activation maps for self-reflection (blue) and 2-back deactivation (yellow). Overlap is shown in green.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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Grants and funding

This work was supported by the CIBERSAM and the Catalonian Government (2014-SGR-1573 to FIDMAG); also by a grant from the Plan Nacional de I+D+i 2013–2016: Juan de la Cierva-formación contract (FJCI-2015-25278 to PF-C); and by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, co-funded by European Union (ERDF/ESF, “Investing in your future”): Miguel Servet Research contracts (CPII13/00018 to RS and MS10/00596 to EP-C), Rio Hortega contract (CM15/00024 to MM-S), PFIS contract (FI16/00311 to AA-E) and Research Project Grants (PI14/01151 to RS, PI14/01148 to EP-C and PI14/01691 to PM). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.