Figure 1. Functional relevance of DMN suppression.

(a) Left panel shows regions closely corresponding to the DMN that were identified as exhibiting a weaker signal for correct relative to incorrect trials while healthy adults performed a delayed object working memory task (black borders mark the DMN as originally defined by Fox and colleagues [4]). Top right panel shows the signal extracted out of all the identified foci displayed in the functional map. For each region a green line indicates correct trials whereas a red line marks incorrect trials. Average correct vs. incorrect signal for all DMN regions is shown in solid vs. dashed black lines respectively. (b) Functional connectivity between three a-priori defined large-scale networks (red=control; yellow=sensory- motor; blue=default mode network) and a lateral-prefrontal node that was stringently identified as being involved in cognitive control. Panels on the right show individual differences in IQ (assessed using Raven’s progressive matrices) and connectivity for a large sample of college-age adults (N=94). Both sensory and control network connectivity strength was positively associated with IQ, whereas the DMN network connectivity was inversely correlated with IQ, such that higher IQ individuals evidenced stronger anti-correlation. Figures adapted with permission from [29] and [67].