Connectivity of Frontoparietal Regions Reveals Executive Attention and Consciousness Interactions
Date
2019Author
Martín-Signes, Mar
Paz-Alonso, Pedro M.
Chica, Ana B.
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Mar Martín-Signes, Pedro M Paz-Alonso, Ana B Chica, Connectivity of Frontoparietal Regions Reveals Executive Attention and Consciousness Interactions, Cerebral Cortex, Volume 29, Issue 11, November 2019, Pages 4539–4550, https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhy332
Abstract
The executive control network is involved in the voluntary control of novel and complex situations. Solving conflict
situations or detecting errors have demonstrated to impair conscious perception of near-threshold stimuli. The aim of this
study was to explore the neural mechanisms underlying executive control and its interaction with conscious perception
using functional magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion-weighted imaging. To this end, we used a dual-task paradigm
involving Stroop and conscious detection tasks with near-threshold stimuli. A set of prefrontal and frontoparietal regions
were more strongly engaged for incongruent than congruent trials while a distributed set of frontoparietal regions showed
stronger activation for consciously than nonconsciously perceived trials. Functional connectivity analysis revealed an
interaction between executive control and conscious perception in frontal and parietal nodes. The microstructural
properties of the middle branch of the superior longitudinal fasciculus were associated with neural measures of the
interaction between executive control and consciousness. These results demonstrate that conscious perception and
executive control share neural resources in frontoparietal networks, as proposed by some influential models.