Fig. 4.

Path diagrams illustrating how left frontal cortex (LFC) connectivity to the dorsal attention network (DAN) (a and b) and the default mode network (DMN) (c and d) mediates the association between years of education and DMN/DAN small-worldness for successful encoding (a and c) and successful recognition (b and d). Shown for each path are standardized β-weights derived from linear regression (i.e., a = effect of education on LFC connectivity, b = effect of LFC connectivity on DMN/DAN small-worldness when education is included, c = effect of education on DMN/DAN small-worldness, c′ = effect of education on DMN/DAN small-worldness when LFC connectivity is included, ab = indirect effect of education on DMN/DAN small-worldness via LFC connectivity). All paths are controlled for age, sex, task reaction time, total gray matter volume, and apolipoprotein E ε4 carrier status. The significance of regression weights is indicated by asterisks (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001), where significance of indirect effects (i.e., ab) is based on bootstrapping