Cognitive Mode Detectable with Task-Based fMRI: Maintaining Internal Attention (MAIN)

In the context of task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), cognitive modes can be defined as task-general cognitive/sensory/motor processes which reliably elicit specific blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal pattern configurations. A number of cognitive modes are detectable with task-based fMRI, and here we focus on maintaining internal attention (MAIN), a mid-trial-peaking cognitive mode. The task-induced BOLD signal changes associated with MAIN are modulated by a range of tasks, and we present seven here. For each task, we report: (1) highly specific pattern-based (as opposed to coordinate-based) anatomical details essential for distinguishing MAIN from other BOLD-based cognitive modes, and (2) task-induced BOLD signal changes associated with MAIN across a range of task conditions. In order to facilitate recognition, we nick-named the anatomical patterns specific to MAIN as follows: (1) Left-Lateralized Upper Triangle, (2) Left-Lateralized Lower Triangle, (3) Right-Handed Crab Claw, (4) Found a Peanut. Evidence for MAIN was derived from the timing and magnitude of task-induced BOLD signal changes for following tasks: autobiographical event simulation, verbal working memory, non-verbal working memory, thought generation, task-switching, self-reference, and semantic association. Inspection of the task-induced BOLD signal changes associated with MAIN, over the range of tasks mentioned above, consistently supported the cognitive mode interpretation of maintaining attention to internal mental representations.