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Reconfiguration of “resting-state networks” during movie watching
Poster Session D, Saturday, September 13, 5:00 - 6:30 pm, Field House
E. Susan Duncan1, Shelby Kayga1, Andrea Leone-Thide2, Adam Buchwald2; 1The Graduate Center, CUNY, 2New York University
Introduction: Previous work suggests that naturalistic language processing, such as with movie viewing, induces changes in functional connectivity compared to resting-state fMRI. Here, we compared the whole-brain functional connectivity (FC) of three left hemisphere regions commonly used as seeds to identify resting-state networks during movie watching vs. task-free scanning. These regions included pars opercularis (language network; LAN), precuneus (default mode network; DMN), and DLPFC (executive control network; ECN). Methods: Data were obtained from the publicly available repository collected by the Cambridge Centre for Ageing Neuroscience (Cam-CAN). Participants (n=118) were included if they were right-handed (EHI>40), obtained the maximum possible score on cognitive screening, and had at least 5 minutes of usable data for both rest and movie (Alfred Hitchcock’s “Bang! You’re Dead” condense to 8 minutes). Data were preprocessed using the established Cam-CAN pipeline followed by analysis using AFNI/FSL. For both movie and rest, residual time series were obtained by regressing motion parameters and WM/CSF signal, then band-pass filtering (0.01-0.1 Hz). We extracted the eigenvariate time series from each ROI (identified using the Brainnetome atlas) and performed whole brain correlations across all other brain regions in the atlas (n=274), converting to z-scores to permit inter-subject comparison. We used three t-tests to identify significant FC differences for each region during movie vs. rest, including covariates (age, sex, education, handedness, duration of usable data) and applying FWE multiple comparison correction (3dClusterSim, voxelwise p=0.001, corrected p=0.01). Results: Visual inspection of resting-state functional connectivity confirmed that each of the three seed regions effectively identified the targeted network. During movie watching vs. rest, the pars opercularis seed (LAN) demonstrated significantly increased FC with a number of bilateral regions consistent with the DMN, including medial prefrontal cortices, precuneus/posterior cingulate, angular gyri with adjacent SMG. Greater FC was also observed for bilateral subgenual anterior cingulate, thalamus, cerebellum, and posterior ITG (L>R). The precuneus seed (DMN) demonstrated increased FC with a variety of bilateral sensorimotor regions (putamen, ventral precentral/postcentral gyri, anterior insula). Greater FC was also noted for language regions, including bilateral STG/STS/MTG (extending from IPL/TPJ nearly to the temporal poles; L>R) and left pars opercularis, along with vision-associated cortices in the bilateral occipital lobes and left anterior ITG. The DLPFC seed (ECN) yielded the most extensive increases in FC during movie watching, particularly in bilateral visual regions throughout the occipital lobes (including MT+) and fusiform gyri into the mid-ITG. Other regions with greater FC included orbitofrontal cortex, DLPFC and inferior frontal sulcus, anterior/posterior MTG, IPL and intraparietal sulcus, precuneus/posterior cingulate, thalamus, and cerebellum. Conclusions: Although participants were not engaged in any active task requiring response, the rich visual, auditory, affective, and semantic experience of movie viewing prompted significant shifts in FC compared to rest. Some of these contrasts were suggestive of coupling with different networks, such as the pars opercularis with DMN, precuneus with LAN, and DLPFC with visual and dorsal attention networks. These findings indicate that so-called “resting-state networks” reconfigure dynamically based on context, suggesting investigations into the neurobiology of language be grounded in naturalistic tasks.
Topic Areas: Multisensory or Sensorimotor Integration, Meaning: Discourse and Pragmatics