A Coordinate-Based Meta-Analysis of Overlaps in Regional Specialization and Functional Connectivity across Subjective Value and Default Mode Networks

Abstract

Previous research has provided qualitative evidence for overlap in a number of brain regions across the subjective value network (SVN) and the default mode network (DMN). In order to quantitatively assess this overlap, we conducted a series of coordinate-based meta-analyses (CBMA) of results from 466 functional magnetic resonance imaging experiments on task-negative or subjective value-related activations in the human brain. In these analyses, we first identified significant overlaps and dissociations across activation foci related to SVN and DMN. Second, we investigated whether these overlapping subregions also showed similar patterns of functional connectivity, suggesting a shared functional subnetwork. We find considerable overlap between SVN and DMN in subregions of central ventromedial prefrontal cortex (cVMPFC) and dorsal posterior cingulate cortex (dPCC). Further, our findings show that similar patterns of bidirectional functional connectivity between cVMPFC and dPCC are present in both networks. We discuss ways in which our understanding of how subjective value (SV) is computed and represented in the brain can be synthesized with what we know about the DMN, mind-wandering, and self-referential processing in light of our findings.

Shifted balance of dorsal versus ventral striatal communication with frontal reward and regulatory regions in cannabis‐dependent males

“…More specifically, both striatal regions demonstrated an uncoupling with dmPFC regulatory regions which may reflect deficient inhibitory control which is consistently observed in cannabis users (Wrege et al, 2014). The altered caudate-dmPFC pathway suggests specific deficits in stop-signal inhibition , an inhibitory domain that has been shown to be deficient across addictive disorders (Acikalin, Gorgolewski, & Poldrack, 2017; Morein-Zamir, Jones, Bullmore, Robbins, & Ersche, 2013).…”

“…Increased connectivity in the nucleus accumbens-ACC pathway in response to drug cues has previously been identified as a specific marker for dependent versus nondependent cannabis users (Filbey & Dunlop, 2014). Activation in the rACC and the adjacent ventromedial PFC has been found to reliably reflect subjective value and reward representations (Acikalin et al, 2017).…”

The Default Mode Network in Autism

“…In parallel, several investigations have also uncovered that these structures, collectively named the “default mode network” (DMN) are significantly engaged during tasks involving social cognitive mental processes that are evaluative in nature (15–17), including self-referential and autobiographical processing (13–15, 18), and mentalizing and theory of mind (13, 17). Beyond socially relevant functions, the DMN is also associated with mind wandering and initiation of spontaneous thought processes (13) and subjective value judgments (19), but how these functions contribute to social cognition is not known. Given its central importance to the phenomenology of ASD, we focus on processes that are more directly relevant to social function.…”

Decoding the neural representation of self and person knowledge with multivariate pattern analysis and data‐driven approaches

“…Based on the research discussed above, we still have limited understanding of what computations and what types of information are being operated on within the vMPFC that make it so fundamental to self-referential cognition. This issue is further compounded by the fact that a number of other domains (i.e., reward value, affect regulation) also appear to involve if not this same region then one that is at least partially overlapping (Acikalin, Gorgolewski, & Poldrack, 2017;Delgado et al, 2016). For instance, a number of studies and meta-analyses have attributed a role for the vMPFC in representing subjective reward value during decision-making (Clithero & Rangel, 2014;Grabenhorst & Rolls, 2011;Rushworth, Noonan, Boorman, Walton, & Behrens, 2011).…”