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Task episodes consist of sequences of steps that are performed to achieve a goal. We used fMRI to examine neural representation of task identity, component items, and sequential position, focusing on two major cortical systems--the multipledemand (MD) and default mode networks (DMN). Human participants (20 males, 22 females) learned six tasks each consisting of four steps. Inside the scanner, participants were cued which task to perform and then sequentially identified the target item of each step in the correct order. Univariate time course analyses indicated that intra-episode progress was tracked by a tonically increasing global response, plus an increasing phasic step response specific to MD regions. Inter-episode boundaries evoked a widespread response at episode onset, plus a marked offset response specific to DMN regions. Representational similarity analysis (RSA) was used to examine representation of task identity and component steps. Both networks represented the content and position of individual steps, however the DMN preferentially represented task identity while the MD network preferentially represented step-level information. Thus, although both MD and DMN networks are sensitive to step-level and episode-level information in the context of hierarchical task performance, they exhibit dissociable profiles in terms of both temporal dynamics and representational content. The results suggest collaboration of multiple brain regions in control of multistep behavior, with MD regions particularly involved in processing the detail of individual steps, and DMN adding representation of broad task context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We combined fMRI with eye tracking and speech recording to examine the neural and cognitive mechanisms that underlie reading. To simplify the study of the complex processes involved during reading, we used naming speed (NS) tasks (also known as rapid automatized naming or RAN) as a focus for this study, in which average reading right‐handed adults named sets of stimuli (letters or objects) as quickly and accurately as possible. Due to the possibility of spoken output during fMRI studies creating motion artifacts, we employed both an overt session and a covert session. When comparing the two sessions, there were no significant differences in behavioral performance, sensorimotor activation (except for regions involved in the motor aspects of speech production) or activation in regions within the left‐hemisphere‐dominant neural reading network. This established that differences found between the tasks within the reading network were not attributed to speech production motion artifacts or sensorimotor processes. Both behavioral and neuroimaging measures showed that letter naming was a more automatic and efficient task than object naming. Furthermore, specific manipulations to the NS tasks to make the stimuli more visually and/or phonologically similar differentially activated the reading network in the left hemisphere associated with phonological, orthographic and orthographic‐to‐phonological processing, but not articulatory/motor processing related to speech production. These findings further our understanding of the underlying neural processes that support reading by examining how activation within the reading network differs with both task performance and task characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Intact activations but deficient DLPFC-visual cortex functional connectivity in patients with schizophrenia. • Functional connectivity deficits correlated with working memory performance in patients with schizophrenia. • Functional connectivity deficits correlated with level of disorganization in patients with schizophrenia. Abstract Working memory (WM) deficits are key features of schizophrenia and are associated with significant functional impairment. The precise mechanisms of WM and their relationship between WM deficits with other clinical symptoms of schizophrenia remain unclear. Contemporary models propose that WM requires synchronous activity across brain regions within a distributed network, including lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) and task-relevant posterior sensory cortical regions. This suggests that WM deficits in patients may be due to PFC functional connectivity (FC) impairments rather than activation impairments per se. We tested this hypothesis by measuring the magnitude of FC between lateral PFC and visual cortex and univariate activations within these regions during visual WM. We found decreased FC in patients compared to healthy subjects in the context of similar levels of univariate activity. Furthermore, this decreased FC was associated with task performance and clinical symptomatology in patients. The magnitude of FC, particularly during the delay period, was positively correlated with WM task accuracy, while FC during cue was inversely correlated with severity of disorganization. Taken together, these results suggest that impairment in lateral PFC FC is a key aspect of information processing impairment in patients with schizophrenia, and may be a sensitive index of altered neurophysiology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Correlations between rest brain entropy and task activation were assessed. • In activated brain regions, lower rest entropy correlates with stronger activation. • In deactivated area, lower rest entropy correlates with stronger deactivation. • Rest brain entropy predicts the magnitude of brain activation or deactivation. • Rest entropy explains the individual differences of activation/deactivations. Brain entropy (BEN) calculated from resting state fMRI has been the subject of increasing research interest in recent years. Previous studies have shown the correlations between rest BEN and neurocognition and task performance, but how this relates to task-evoked brain activations and deactivations remains unknown. The purpose of this study is to address this open question using large data (n = 862). Voxel wise correlations were calculated between rest BEN and task activations/deactivations of five different tasks. For most of the assessed tasks, lower rest BEN was found to be associated with stronger activations (negative correlations) and stronger deactivations (positive correlations) only in brain regions activated or deactivated by the tasks. Higher workload evoked spatially more extended negative correlations between rest BEN and task activations. These results not only confirm that resting brain activity can predict brain activity during task performance but also for the first time show that resting brain activity may facilitate both task activations and deactivations. In addition, the results provide a clue to understanding the individual differences of task performance and brain activations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neuroimaging studies typically focus on either resting state or task-based fMRI data. Prior research has shown that similarity in functional connectivity between rest and cognitive tasks, interpreted as reconfiguration efficiency, is related to task performance and IQ. Here, we extend this approach from adults to children, and from cognitive tasks to a threat-based attention task. The goal of the current study was to examine whether similarity in functional connectivity during rest and an attention bias task relates to threat bias, IQ, anxiety symptoms, and social reticence. fMRI was measured during resting state and during the dot-probe task in 41 children (M = 13.44, SD = 0.70). Functional connectivity during rest and dot-probe was positively correlated, suggesting that functional hierarchies in the brain are stable. Similarity in functional connectivity between rest and the dot-probe task only related to threat bias (p uncorr <.03). This effect did not survive correction for multiple testing. Overall, children who allocate more attention towards threat also may possess greater reconfiguration efficiency in switching from intrinsic to threat-related attention states. Finally, functional connectivity correlated negatively across the two conditions of the dot-probe task. Opposing patterns of modulation of functional connectivity by threat-congruent and threat-incongruent trials may reflect task-specific network changes during two different attentional processes. •Similarity in functional connectivity during rest and a dot-probe task was assessed. •Functional connectivity during rest and dot-probe was positively correlated. •Similarity in functional connectivity between rest and task related to threat bias. •This might suggest that reconfiguration efficiency related to bias towards threat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]