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Challenging a decade of brain research on task switching: brain activation in the task-switching paradigm reflects adaptation rather than reconfiguration of task sets.

ABSTRACT: In daily life, we permanently need to adapt our behavior to new task situations, requiring cognitive control. Such adaptive processes are commonly investigated with the task-switching paradigm. Many fMRI studies have interpreted stronger activation for switch than repeat trials in fronto-parietal brain areas as reflecting an active reconfiguration process in switch trials, tuning the cognitive system for proper task execution. From the single cell literature, however, one could deduce the alternative interpretation that switch-specific activity reflects reduced brain activity in repeat trials due to adaptation. These alternative explanations cannot be distinguished by simply comparing brain activity in switch and repeat trials. Therefore, we used a parametric approach to examine which interpretation is more powerful to account for the data. In all areas of the fronto-parietal network, adaptation explained the data better than reconfiguration. Therefore, our results call the classical reconfiguration interpretation into question and provide first evidence for adaptation of abstract task representations.

SUBMITTER: De Baene W

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6869853 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Challenging a decade of brain research on task switching: brain activation in the task-switching paradigm reflects adaptation rather than reconfiguration of task sets.

De Baene Wouter W Kühn Simone S Brass Marcel M

Human brain mapping 20110309 3

In daily life, we permanently need to adapt our behavior to new task situations, requiring cognitive control. Such adaptive processes are commonly investigated with the task-switching paradigm. Many fMRI studies have interpreted stronger activation for switch than repeat trials in fronto-parietal brain areas as reflecting an active reconfiguration process in switch trials, tuning the cognitive system for proper task execution. From the single cell literature, however, one could deduce the altern ...[more]

PMID: 21391280

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Project description:BackgroundFunctional neuroimaging has great potential to inform clinical decisions, whether by identifying neural biomarkers of illness progression and severity, predicting therapeutic response, or selecting suitable patients for surgical interventions. Yet a persisting barrier to functional neuroimaging's clinical translation is our incomplete understanding of how normative variance in cognition, personality, and behavior shape the brain's structural and functional organization. We propose that modeling individual differences in these brain-behavior relationships is crucial for improving the accuracy of neuroimaging biomarkers for neurologic and psychiatric disorders.MethodsWe addressed this goal by initiating the Cognitive Connectome Project, which bridges neuropsychology and neuroimaging by pairing nine cognitive domains typically assessed by clinically validated neuropsychological measures with those tapped by canonical neuroimaging tasks (motor, visuospatial perception, attention, language, memory, affective processing, decision making, working memory, and executive function). To date, we have recruited a diverse sample of 53 participants (mean [SD], age = 32 [9.7] years, 31 females).ResultsAs a proof of concept, we first demonstrate that our neuroimaging task battery can replicate previous findings that task performance recruits intrinsic brain networks identified during wakeful rest. We then expand upon these previous findings by showing that the extent to which these networks are recruited by task reflects individual differences in cognitive ability. Specifically, performance on the Judgment of Line Orientation task (a clinically validated measure of visuospatial perception) administered outside of the MRI scanner predicts the magnitude of task-induced activity of the dorsal visual network when performing a direct replication of this task within the MRI scanner. Other networks (such as default mode and right frontoparietal) showed task-induced changes in activity that were unrelated to task performance, suggesting these networks to not be involved in visuospatial perception.ConclusionThese findings establish a methodological framework by which clinical neuropsychology and functional neuroimaging may mutually inform one another, thus enhancing the translation of functional neuroimaging into clinical decision making.

Dataset Information

Challenging a decade of brain research on task switching: brain activation in the task-switching paradigm reflects adaptation rather than reconfiguration of task sets.

Publications

Challenging a decade of brain research on task switching: brain activation in the task-switching paradigm reflects adaptation rather than reconfiguration of task sets.

Similar Datasets

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