The salience network causally influences default mode network activity during moral reasoning
Brain April 9, 2013 Winston Chiong, Stephen M. Wilson, Mark D’Esposito et al. 234 citations
Large-scale brain networks coordinate human behavior, and their anatomy helps explain how neurodegenerative diseases progress. Alzheimer's disease targets the default mode network, while behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia targets the salience network. The default mode network is active when healthy people consider personal moral dilemmas, yet Alzheimer's patients respond normally to these dilemmas, whereas frontotemporal dementia patients give abnormally utilitarian responses. This discrepancy may arise because the salience network modulates default mode network activity.