Dissociable default-mode subnetworks subserve childhood attention and cognitive flexibility: evidence from deep learning and stereotaxic electroencephalography

Abstract

BackgroundCognitive flexibility encompasses the ability to efficiently shift focus and forms a critical component of goal-directed attention. The neural substrates of this process are incompletely understood in part due to difficulties in sampling the involved circuitry. MethodsStereotactic intracranial recordings that permit direct resolution of local-field potentials from otherwise inaccessible structures were employed to study moment-to-moment attentional activity in children with epilepsy during the performance of an attentional set-shifting task. A combined deep learning and model-agnostic feature explanation approach was used to analyze these data and decode attentionally-relevant neural features. Connectomic profiling of highly predictive attentional nodes was further employed to examine task-related engagement of large-scale functional networks. ResultsThrough this approach, we show that beta/gamma power within executive control, salience, and default mode networks accurately predicts single-trial attentional performance. Connectomic profiling reveals that key attentional nodes exclusively recruit dorsal default mode subsystems during attentional shifts. ConclusionsThe identification of distinct substreams within the default mode system supports a key role for this network in cognitive flexibility and attention in children. Furthermore, convergence of our results onto consistent functional networks despite significant inter-subject variability in electrode implantations supports a broader role for deep learning applied to intracranial electrodes in the study of human attention. FundingNo funds supported this specific investigation. Awards and grants supporting authors include: Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Vanier Scholarship (NMW, HY); CIHR Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarship Doctoral Award (SMW); CIHR Canada Graduate Scholarship Masters Award (ONA); and a CIHR project grant (GMI).