Coactivation of Default Mode Network and Executive Network Regions in the Human Brain

Abstract

The executive network (EN) is activated during higher-level cognition; however, the default mode network (DMN) is deactivated during cognitive tasks. Therefore, their relationship was described as anticorrelational. During the task period, the EN increases its activity and the DMN decreases its activity, whereas the DMN is activated and the EN is deactivated during the rest period. However, recent studies reported that the two networks are not necessarily anticorrelated, and instead they actually show coactivation during some cognitive tasks. In addition, recent research also reported that the relationship between the DMN and EN dynamically changes during different phases within a cognitive task. For example, the EN and DMN regions were coactivated during a task preparation period, whereas the EN was activated and the DMN regions were deactivated during a task execution period. The results suggest that the relationship between the EN and DMN could change dynamically depending on task demands.