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1. Functional Realignment of Frontoparietal Subnetworks during Divergent Creative Thinking

   https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhab100  

   Beaty, Roger E ; Cortes, Robert A ; Zeitlen, Daniel C ; Weinberger, Adam B ; Green, Adam E ( April 2021 , Cerebral Cortex)

   null (Ed.)

   Abstract Creative cognition has been consistently associated with functional connectivity between frontoparietal control and default networks. However, recent research identified distinct connectivity dynamics for subnetworks within the larger frontoparietal system—one subnetwork (FPCNa) shows positive coupling with the default network and another subnetwork (FPCNb) shows negative default coupling—raising questions about how these networks interact during creative cognition. Here we examine frontoparietal subnetwork functional connectivity in a large sample of participants (n = 171) who completed a divergent creative thinking task and a resting-state scan during fMRI. We replicated recent findings on functional connectivity of frontoparietal subnetworks at rest: FPCNa positively correlated with the default network and FPCNb negatively correlated with the default network. Critically, we found that divergent thinking evoked functional connectivity between both frontoparietal subnetworks and the default network, but in different ways. Using community detection, we found that FPCNa regions showed greater coassignment to a default network community. However, FPCNb showed overall stronger functional connectivity with the default network—reflecting a reversal of negative connectivity at rest—and the strength of FPCNb-default network connectivity correlated with individual creative ability. These findings provide novel evidence of a behavioral benefit to the cooperation of typically anticorrelated brain networks. 

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2. Diverse functional interaction driven by control-default network hubs supports creative thinking

   https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhad356  

   Zhuang, Kaixiang ; Zeitlen, Daniel_C ; Beaty, Roger_E ; Vatansever, Deniz ; Chen, Qunlin ; Qiu, Jiang ( October 2023 , Cerebral Cortex)

   Complex cognitive processes, like creative thinking, rely on interactions among multiple neurocognitive processes to generate effective and innovative behaviors on demand, for which the brain’s connector hubs play a crucial role. However, the unique contribution of specific hub sets to creative thinking is unknown. Employing three functional magnetic resonance imaging datasets (total N = 1,911), we demonstrate that connector hub sets are organized in a hierarchical manner based on diversity, with “control-default hubs”—which combine regions from the frontoparietal control and default mode networks—positioned at the apex. Specifically, control-default hubs exhibit the most diverse resting-state connectivity profiles and play the most substantial role in facilitating interactions between regions with dissimilar neurocognitive functions, a phenomenon we refer to as “diverse functional interaction”. Critically, we found that the involvement of control-default hubs in facilitating diverse functional interaction robustly relates to creativity, explaining both task-induced functional connectivity changes and individual creative performance. Our findings suggest that control-default hubs drive diverse functional interaction in the brain, enabling complex cognition, including creative thinking. We thus uncover a biologically plausible explanation that further elucidates the widely reported contributions of certain frontoparietal control and default mode network regions in creativity studies.

    

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3. Fronto-parietal structural connectivity in childhood predicts development of functional connectivity and reasoning ability: a large-scale longitudinal investigation

   https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3726-16.2017  

   Wendelken, Carter ; Ferrer, Emilio ; Ghetti, Simona ; Bailey, Stephen ; Cutting, Laurie ; Bunge, Silvia A. ( August 2017 , The Journal of Neuroscience)

   Prior research points to a positive concurrent relationship between reasoning ability and both frontoparietal structural connectivity (SC) as measured by diffusion tensor imaging (Tamnes et al., 2010) and frontoparietal functional connectivity (FC) as measured by fMRI (Cocchi et al., 2014). Further, recent research demonstrates a link between reasoning ability and FC of two brain regions in particular: rostrolateral prefrontal cortex (RLPFC) and the inferior parietal lobe (IPL) (Wendelken et al., 2016). Here, we sought to investigate the concurrent and dynamic, lead-lag relationships among frontoparietal SC, FC, and reasoning ability in humans. To this end, we combined three longitudinal developmental datasets with behavioral and neuroimaging data from 523 male and female participants between 6 and 22 years of age. Cross-sectionally, reasoning ability was most strongly related to FC between RLPFC and IPL in adolescents and adults, but to frontoparietal SC in children. Longitudinal analysis revealed that RLPFC-IPL SC, but not FC, was a positive predictor of future changes in reasoning ability. Moreover, we found that RLPFC-IPL SC at one time point positively predicted future changes in RLPFC-IPL FC, whereas, in contrast, FC did not predict future changes in SC. Our results demonstrate the importance of strong white matter connectivity between RLPFC and IPL during middle childhood for the subsequent development of both robust FC and good reasoning ability.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The human capacity for reasoning develops substantially during childhood and has a profound impact on achievement in school and in cognitively challenging careers. Reasoning ability depends on communication between lateral prefrontal and parietal cortices. Therefore, to understand how this capacity develops, we examined the dynamic relationships over time among white matter tracts connecting frontoparietal cortices (i.e., structural connectivity, SC), coordinated frontoparietal activation (functional connectivity, FC), and reasoning ability in a large longitudinal sample of subjects 6-22 years of age. We found that greater frontoparietal SC in childhood predicts future increases in both FC and reasoning ability, demonstrating the importance of white matter development during childhood for subsequent brain and cognitive functioning. 

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4. Functional networks in the infant brain during sleep and wake states

   https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhad327  

   Yates, Tristan S. ; Ellis, Cameron T. ; Turk-Browne, Nicholas B. ( September 2023 , Cerebral Cortex)

   Functional brain networks are assessed differently earlier versus later in development: infants are almost universally scanned asleep, whereas adults are typically scanned awake. Observed differences between infant and adult functional networks may thus reflect differing states of consciousness rather than or in addition to developmental changes. We explore this question by comparing functional networks in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans of infants during natural sleep and awake movie-watching. As a reference, we also scanned adults during awake rest and movie-watching. Whole-brain functional connectivity was more similar within the same state (sleep and movie in infants; rest and movie in adults) compared with across states. Indeed, a classifier trained on patterns of functional connectivity robustly decoded infant state and even generalized to adults; interestingly, a classifier trained on adult state did not generalize as well to infants. Moreover, overall similarity between infant and adult functional connectivity was modulated by adult state (stronger for movie than rest) but not infant state (same for sleep and movie). Nevertheless, the connections that drove this similarity, particularly in the frontoparietal control network, were modulated by infant state. In sum, infant functional connectivity differs between sleep and movie states, highlighting the value of awake fMRI for studying functional networks over development.

    

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5. Identifying Brain Network Topology Changes in Task Processes and Psychiatric Disorders

   https://doi.org/10.1162/netn_a_00122  

   Rezaeinia, Paria ; Fairley, Kim ; Pal, Piya ; Meyer, François G. ; Carter, R. McKell ( December 2019 , Network Neuroscience)

   A central goal in neuroscience is to understand how dynamic networks of neural activity produce effective representations of the world. Advances in the theory of graph measures raise the possibility of elucidating network topologies central to the construction of these representations. We leverage a result from the description of lollipop graphs to identify an iconic network topology in functional magnetic resonance imaging data and characterize changes to those networks during task performance and in populations diagnosed with psychiatric disorders. During task performance, we find that task-relevant subnetworks change topology, becoming more integrated by increasing connectivity throughout cortex. Analysis of resting-state connectivity in clinical populations shows a similar pattern of subnetwork topology changes; resting-scans becoming less default-like with more integrated sensory paths. The study of brain network topologies and their relationship to cognitive models of information processing raises new opportunities for understanding brain function and its disorders. 

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