The Control of Global Brain Dynamics: Opposing Actions of Frontoparietal Control and Default Mode Networks on Attention
Journal of Neuroscience January 8, 2014 Peter J. Hellyer, Murray Shanahan, Gregory Scott et al. 225 citations
During an attentionally demanding task, brain activity becomes more synchronized and less variable over time compared to rest. This shift is linked to increased activity in the frontoparietal control/dorsal attention network and decreased activity in the default mode network. A computational model confirmed that activating the frontoparietal network increases synchrony and reduces variability, while activating the default mode network does the opposite. The balance between these networks may control how the brain shifts between an unfocused, exploratory state with high variability and a focused, constrained state with low variability.