Damage to the Salience Network and Interactions with the Default Mode Network
Journal of Neuroscience August 13, 2014 S. R. Jilka, G. Scott, T. Ham et al. 242 citations
Interactions between the Salience Network (SN) and the Default Mode Network (DMN) are important for cognitive control. In healthy subjects, functional connectivity between a key SN node (right anterior insula) and the DMN transiently increased during motor response inhibition and switching. This change was absent in traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients with impaired cognitive control. The amount of SN tract damage negatively correlated with connectivity between the networks, a finding replicated in a second TBI group. Results indicate that SN damage impairs dynamic network coupling and support a model where the SN signals the DMN to reduce activity during externally focused attention.