Date of Award
Winter 12-15-2016
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Degree Type
Dissertation
Abstract
Implementation of daily functions in humans crucially relies on both the bottom-up moment-to- moment processing of relevant input and output information as well as the top-down controls that instantiate and regulate goal-directed strategies. The current dissertation focuses on different systems of brain regions related to task control. We are interested in investigating, in detail, some of the basic activity patterns that different control systems carry during simple tasks, and how differences in activity patterns may shed new insight onto the distinctions among the systems' functional roles. In addition, carefully coordinated interactions between brain regions specialized for control-related activity and regions specialized for bottom-up information processing are essential for humans to adeptly undertake various goal-directed tasks. Hence, another goal is to explore how the relationships among regions related to control and regions related to processing will change as result of top-down control signals during tasks.
In Chapter 2, we applied the graph theory method of link communities onto the brain's resting-state intrinsic connectivity structure to identify possible points of interactions among the previously defined functional systems, including various control systems. In Chapter 3, we conducted a meta-analysis of tasks to examine the distinct functional characteristics of control systems in task activation. Using a data-driven clustering analysis, we identified two distinct trial-related response profiles that divided the regions of control systems into a right frontoparietal and cinguloopercular cluster, which may be engaged in fine-tuning task parameters and evaluating performance, and a left frontoparietal and dorsal attention cluster, which may be involved in timely updates of trial-wise parameters as well as information processing. In Chapter 4, we explored the changes in functional relationships among selected systems during individual trials of a goal-direct task and found the presence of complex and dynamic relationships that suggest changes among the various functional systems across a trial reflect both continuous as well as momentary effects of top-down signals. Collectively, the studies presented here both contributed to as well as challenged previous frameworks of task control in an effort to build better understanding of the basic organization and interactions among the brain's functional systems.
Language
English (en)
Chair
Steven E. Petersen
Committee Members
Dennis Barbour, Deanna Barch, Dan Moran, Marcus Raichle
Comments
Permanent URL: https://doi.org/10.7936/K7FB51BH