Meta-analytic evidence for a superordinate cognitive control network subserving diverse executive functions

“…stimulus–response pairings, while the DLPFC is thought to support its ability to shift attentional focus according to the demands of the task at hand (Bunge, Hazeltine, Scanlon, Rosen, & Gabrieli, 2002; Bunge, Kahn, Wallis, Miller, & Wagner, 2003; Miller & Cohen, 2001; Posner & Petersen, 1990).”

“2 Ravizza and Carter (2008). 3 Luna et al.”

“Results of the combined analysis across domains showed that executive functions are indeed associated with increased activity in this common cognitive control network (Bellebaum & Daum, 2007; Botvinick et al., 2001; Carter et al., 1999; Cohen et al., 2000; D’Esposito & Postle, 2002; Yarkoni et al., 2005), which includ…”

“Through increased understanding of the function of modular components within this network, along with their anatomical connections and functional interactions, we will be able to more effectively investigate the mechanisms by which aberrant behavior or clinical symptoms may result from dysfunction in individual region…”

“Activation likelihood estimation has been has been used to address similar research questions in both healthy and patient samples (Binder, Desai, Graves, & Conant, 2009; Caspers, Zilles, Laird, & Eickhoff, 2010; Chouinard & Goodale, 2010; Dickstein, Bannon, Castellanos, & Milham, 2006; Fusar-Poli et al., 2009; Glahn e…”

“According to this view, cognitive control mechanisms support the range of executive functions, including working memory, selective attention, stimulus–response mapping, and performance monitoring (Carter et al., 1998; Cohen, Dunbar, & McClelland, 1990; Miyake & Shah, 1999; Shallice, 1988), and are not restricted to a…”

“…control have been conducted in the past (e.g., Cieslik et al., 2015; Criaud and Boulinguez, 2013; Gavazzi et al., 2020; Guo et al., 2018; Huang et al., 2020; Hung et al., 2018; Niendam et al., 2012; Rae et al., 2014; Song et al., 2017; Swick et al., 2011; Xu et al., 2016; Zhang et al., 2017).”

“…Medial prefrontal cortex, ventral striatum, anterior cingulate cortex, insula Translation of intentions into concrete actions Cognitive control 95,96 Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, parietal lobe Note that the same brain region can be involved in several cognitive…”

“, 2005) and neuroimaging meta-analyses (Duncan and Owen, 2000; Duncan, 2001, 2010; Niendam et al., 2012) indicated broad frontoparietal recruitment across tasks and modalities.”

“Meta-analyses of functional neuroimaging data in healthy individuals provide evidence for a superordinate cognitive control network that supports a diverse range of executive functions (Niendam et al., 2012).”

“This network consists of a set of coactive fronto- parietal cortical regions (Cole & Schneider, 2007; Dosenbach et al., 2007; Niendam et al., 2012) that is, anterior cingulate cortex/presupplementary motor area, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, inferior frontal junction, anterior insular cortex,…”

“Of note, these brain regions are consistently activated when the demand for cognitive control increases.(40) However, the cut-points applied to define MVPA in the study were not validated for wrist-worn accelerometers, which precludes firm conclusions.”

“Research also indicates that the ECN, which typically activates in executive tasks including WM and inhibitory control paradigms (Niendam et al., 2012; Seeley et al., 2007; Shen et al., 2020), may aid creative cognition by guiding thought in strategic directions and inhibiting unoriginal ideas…”

“This is largely governed by the prefrontal cortex, which develops over the first three decades of life (Niendam et al. 2012), with adolescence being a key developmental period (Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University 2011).”

“…neuroanatomy of the n-back task because it has been shown to be robust to variations in the paradigms used, scanner types and acquisition sequences (Owen et al., 2005; Dima et al., 2014) and has been reliably used to elicit disease-related abnormalities in patients with BD and their relatives…”

“…results from adults reveal that many different tasks designed to measure EF skills activate partially overlapping regions of the brain, with common areas of activation that include a frontoparietal control network (e.g., Cole et al., 2013; Duncan & Owen, 2000; Niendam et al., 2012).”

“When examining control energy, Cui et al. 73 demonstrated that the amount of energy required to activate the fronto-parietal system, a brain network thought to support executive function 74 , was negatively correlated with both age and executive function in the same sample.”

“Overall this component overlapped with the visual, dorsal attentional, FP-CEN, and SA networks (Buckner et al., 2011; Dosenbach et al., 2006; Seeley et al., 2007).”

“A large-scale meta-analysis incorporating neuroimaging results from a wide array of inhibitory tasks (Antisaccade, Flanker, Go/No go, Simon and Stroop tasks) in 1112 participants showed that the middle, inferior and medial regions of frontal cortex along with the superior and inferior parietal cortex are most consiste…”

“Both cognitive processes are mediated by a frontoparietal neural network (Niendam et al., 2012), which is disrupted in schizophrenia and BDP (Baker et al.”

“Cognitive dysfunction is thought to be subserved by abnormalities in distributed brain circuits (Snyder, 2013; Collette et al., 2006; Niendam et al., 2012).”

“Regarding EFs, regions other than prefrontal cortex have been documented to display activation for specific tasks related to the executive control, including the insula, the thalamus, and the cerebellar crus (Niendam et al., 2012).”

“lateral and dorso-medial frontal cortices, insula, intraparietal sulcus and occipitotemporal junction.(Collette et al. 2005, 2006; Niendam et al. 2012; Fedorenko et al. 2013; Nee et al. 2013; Lemire-Rodger et al. 2019; Braver et al. 2021; He et al. 2021; Saylik et al. 2022; Friedman and Robbins 2022; Reineberg et al.…”

“…subjects, we observed a left-lateralized and highly intracon-nected module involving classical language and cognitive control areas including bilateral opercular inferior frontal gyri, bilateral pre-SMA, the left posterior superior temporal gyrus, and the left angular gyrus (Niendam et al. 2012).”

“On the other hand, meta-analysis of functional neuroimaging studies indicated that diverse executive functions tend to engage a very similar set of brain regions, suggesting the existence of a common, super-ordinate fronto-cingulo-parietal cognitive control network (Niendam et al., 2012).”

“Although all of these areas have previously been implicated in imaging studies of cognitive control (Niendam et al., 2012; Jiang and Egner, 2014), the present study assessed their functional roles from a somewhat different perspective than most previous work.”

“Using a meta-analytic approach, Niendam [16] showed that tasks requiring inhibitory control activate a large network of frontal and parietal regions related to cognitive control and suggested that parietal activation is used for processing stimulus-response pairings.”

“ACEs and PCEs in adolescence may affect the structure and function of the brain as well as neural communication between different parts of the brain associated with selfregulation and shame (25, 29, 30).”

“, prefrontal, parietal, anterior cingulate cortices), distinct regions associated with each EF domain are observable in the functional activation patterns [75], and damage to different regions of the frontal lobe differentially affects core EF domains [11].”

“Together these regions and their interconnectivity are implicated in the support of higher cognitive functions such as working memory and selective attention (for metaanalysis [17]), evidence from convergent neuroimaging methods [18]).”

“The DLPFC findings are particularly important given the role of this region in cognitive control and other executive functions that contribute to drinking decisions (Niendam et al., 2012).”

“These processes are supported by networks including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLFPC), dorsal parietal cortex (DPC) and precentral gyrus (Niendam et al., 2012).”

“Therefore, an impairment of this structure might also account for the daytime cognitive disturbances commonly reported by insomniacs, such as reduced alertness, performance, and concentration capacity, sleepiness/fatigue, and higher proneness to errors/accidents at work (85, 86).”

“N-Back paradigms elicit robust brain activation increases in brain regions that are implicated in superordinate cognitive control networks [Niendam et al., 2012], including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and ventrolateral prefrontal regions, the dorsal anterior cingulate (ACC), frontal pole, or medial and…”

“The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is specifically involved in making attentive decisions (Gray et al., 2002; Niendam et al., 2012).”

“should not be surprising that, on the one hand, a large number of brain regions are involved in different components of EF (for a review, see Suchy, 2015), and, on the other hand, a common overarching network is involved in all EF functions (Niendam et al., 2012).”

“This assumption is supported by the enhanced functional coupling of the left DLPFC/VLPFC cluster with right DLPFC (SFG/ MFG) in these subjects since bilateral DLPFC is thought to be part of a higher-order cognitive control network that is involved in various executive functions including, for example, initiation, inhi…”

“Non-parametric permutation tests were then performed, resulting in statistical maps that were thresholded using the false discovery rate (6).”

“Previous physiological and functional neuroimaging studies have documented the involvement of multiple of these frontal cortex areas in the Stroop or similar tasks (Botvinick et al., 1999; Kolling et al., 2012; MacDonald, 2000; Niendam et al., 2012; Oehrn et al., 2014; Sheth et al., 2012).”

“These regions form part of a fronto-parietal network involved in cognitive and attentional control.(42,43) Group differences in”

“…the “cognitive-executive network”) included the bilateral PPC and DLPFC, which are brain areas that typically work in concert with each other to engage cognitive resources in response to the changing demands of the environment (Bressler and Menon, 2010; Niendam et al., 2012; Seeley et al., 2007).”

“…overlapwith regions held to comprise one ormore large-scale distributed networks supporting cognitive control (see, for example, Dosenbach et al., 2008; Cole et al., 2013), sometimes collectively referred to as the “executive meta-system” (Cocchi et al., 2013; see also Niendam et al., 2012).”

“Although the dACC has been hypothesized to be part of a core network in cognitive control and performance monitoring (Holroyd & Yeung, 2012; Niendam et al., 2012; Botvinick, 2007; Dosenbach et al., 2007), the middle/inferior frontal gyrus may be related to reactive control adjustments and response inhibition processes…”

“…on the other hand, is comprised of nodes—throughout the prefrontal and parietal cortices, as well as the cerebellum—that are activated and synchronized during planning, inhibition, working memory, and other executive functions (Seeley et al., 2007; Bressler and Menon, 2010; Niendam et al., 2012).”

“There is evidence for a superordinate fronto-cingulo-parietal network being activated during tasks of inhibition, working memory, and flexibility (Niendam et al., 2012), which supports a common executive function ability, but does not indicate one ability as more central than another.”

“…are several sources of error inherent to fMRI analyses, such as inter-subject anatomical variability and spatial smoothing, that can lead to decreased resolution in group-level fMRI analyses (Nieto-Castañón and Fedorenko, 2012), and in turn cause specious spatial overlap in metaanalytic results.”

“As a maximum of eight ROIs can be implemented in the DCM software used here, only brain regions that were consistently reported in prior meta-analyses (e.g., Nee et al., 2013; Niendam et al., 2012) were included in the model.”

“No correlations were investigated between the ToL and EN connectivity, as a detailed examination of relationships between the EN and behavioral measures of executive function were beyond the scope of this study and have previously been explored extensively (Niendam et al., 2012).”

“These findings were quite consistent with the regions identified in the cognitive control tfMRI meta-analysis by (Niendam et al., 2012).”

“Functional adaptations of the prefrontal cortex are also relevant as this region forms a part of the cognitive control network that directly subserves executive function (Niendam et al., 2012).”

“…across a series of neuroimaging studies investigating functional and structural associations with response speed (Grin-band et al., 2011; Grinband et al., 2008; Hahn et al., 2007; Yarkoni et al., 2009), as well as various aspects of executive functions (Niendam et al., 2012; Westlye et al., 2011).”

“It is well known that medial and lateral prefrontal cortex are critically involved in both mechanisms of cognitive control (Miller & Cummings, 2017; Niendam et al., 2012).”

“Together these regions and their interconnectivity are implicated in the support of higher cognitive functions such as working memory and selective attention (Cole & Schneider, 2007; for meta-analysis; Niendam et al., 2012).”

“This region is considered to be integral to the performance of tasks requiring executive functioning (Niendam et al., 2012).”

“…have consistently been associated with deprivation-related adversity (McLaughlin et al., 2019; McLaughlin, Sheridan, et al., 2014; Edmiston et al., 2011) in regions that support emotion regulation processes (Niendam et al., 2012; Hartley & Phelps, 2010; Eippert et al., 2007; Levesque et al., 2004).”

“PFC is home to a constellation of functional regions thought to implement executive functions and cognitive control (for recent reviews see (Banich et al. 2009; Niendam et al. 2012).”

“Several neural networks operate during learning, including the frontoparietal cognitive control network, which mediates a diverse set of executive functions (Niendam et al., 2012) and supports tasks with high processing demands (Cole and Schneider, 2007).”

“This set of cognitive domains includes, but is not limited to: sustained attention, initiation of goal-directed behavior, inhibition of inappropriate responses or actions (also referred to as response inhibition), flexibility to switch between rules (also referred to as cognitive flexibility), working memory, selectin…”

“(CCN) (Niendam et al. 2012; Fan et al. 2014; Wu et al. 2018; Wu, Chen, et al. 2019a) is composed of three subnetworks: 1) the frontoparietal network that includes the frontal eye field (FEF), supplementary eye field, middle frontal gyrus (MFG), areas near and along the intraparietal sulcus (IPS), and superior parietal…”

“…; Tomasi and Volkow, 2012 ; Zhang et al., 2014 ) and for association systems involved in higher-order cognition, including the salience network ( Onoda et al., 2012 ; Zhang et al., 2014 ), dorsal attention network ( Tomasi and Volkow, 2012 ; Zhang et al., 2014 ), and frontoparietal executive…”

“…Heatherton & Wagner, 2011, p. 134 Box 2), and it has been shown repeatedly with studies using positron emission tomography (PET), which rely on brain glucose metabolism (e.g., Jonides et al., 1997; see Niendam et al., 2012, for a recent meta-analysis, including PET and fMRI neuroimaging studies).”

“…and include reduced attentional control, inhibition, and working memory (for meta-analyses, see Forbes et al., 2009; Lee and Park, 2005; Minzenberg et al., 2009; Niendam et al., 2012; Westerhausen et al., Please cite this article as: Whitford, V., et al., Reading deficits in schizop Schizophr.”