The Salience Network: A Neural System for Perceiving and Responding to Homeostatic Demands

Abstract

The term "salience network" refers to a suite of brain regions whose cortical hubs are the anterior cingulate and ventral anterior insular (i.e., frontoinsular) cortices. This network, which also includes nodes in the amygdala, hypothalamus, ventral striatum, thalamus, and specific brainstem nuclei, coactivates in response to diverse experimental tasks and conditions, suggesting a domain-general function. In the 12 years since its initial description, the salience network has been extensively studied, using diverse methods, concepts, and mammalian species, including healthy and diseased humans across the lifespan. Despite this large and growing body of research, the essential functions of the salience network remain uncertain. In this paper, which makes no attempt to comprehensively review this literature, I describe the circumstances surrounding the initial discovery, conceptualization, and naming of the salience network, highlighting aspects that may be unfamiliar to many readers. I then discuss some of the key advances provided by subsequent research and conclude by posing a few of the questions that remain to be explored.

Connections that characterize callousness: Affective features of psychopathy are associated with personalized patterns of resting-state network connectivity

“…In contrast, the CEN is de-activated at rest and activated during working memory and decision-making in goal-directed behavior, particularly when tasks are cognitively challenging ( Menon and Uddin, 2010 ). The SN is de-activated at rest and activated during various neurocognitive functions, adjusting arousal and attention based on external cues and internal states to enable switching between other networks ( Seeley, 2019 , Sridharan et al, 2008 ). Despite being de-activated at rest, brain regions that constitute the SN and CEN still function synchronously during rest ( Biswal et al, 2010 , Greicius, 2008 , Menon, 2011 , Menon and Uddin, 2010 ), providing opportunities to investigate their interplay with each other and with the task-negative DMN.…”

Short-term nicotine deprivation alters dorsal anterior cingulate glutamate concentration and concomitant cingulate-cortical functional connectivity

“…We focused our investigation on the dACC as it is a key component of the Salience Network (SN) [ 61 ] and has previously been linked with nicotine dependence [ 62 ]. Moreover, the tripartite network hypothesis of neuropsychiatric diseases [ 63 ], and more specifically as it applies to drug addiction [ 64 ], links the dACC (along with the anterior insula), a key component of the SN [ 65 ], with the medial frontal cortex, part of the DMN [ 61 , 66 ] and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and posterior parietal cortex, which are key components of the Executive Control Network (ECN). It has been hypothesized that homeostatically relevant information is constantly exchanged between these three networks in order to switch attention and cognitive resources (via SN) between externally salient stimuli (ECN) and internal, mind-wandering/ruminations, (processed within the DMN) [ 67 ].…”

Neuropsychopharmacological effects of midazolam on the human brain

“…In general, the high-order networks, including the executive control network (ECN), salience network (SN), frontoparietal network (FPN), dorsal attention network (DAN), language network (LAN), and default mode network (DMN), are responsible for various complex cognitive processing [ 71 , 72 ]. For example, the ECN is involved in impulse inhibition, ability to respond to an external event, and skills (such as organizing tasks, solving problems) required for goal-directed behavior [ 73 ]; the SN is involved in detecting and filtering salient stimuli, conflict monitoring, integrating emotional and sensory stimuli, while simultaneously switching between activating and deactivating the DMN and central executive networks [ 74 ]; the FPN assumes a variety of functions, including motor planning and imagery, mental rotation, spatial attention, and coordinating behavior in a rapid, accurate, and flexible goal-driven manner [ 75 ]; the DAN is involved in selection of the appropriate response or action necessary for the attention orientation [ 76 ]; and the DMN, the most widely studied network, is involved in autobiographic episodic memories, mind wandering, the awareness of self, self-generated and internally directed thought, and self-referential processing [ 77 ]. Among them, there is now indisputable evidence that functional connectivity within the ECN, FPN, and LAN is significant decreased during midazolam-induced light sedation [ 66 , 78 ] (Fig.…”