Back

Cognitive control networks in human and macaque

Mione, V.; Kristensen, F. H.; Assem, M.; Schuffelgen, U.; Kyllingsbaek, S.; Buckley, M.; Mitchell, D. J.; Duncan, J.

2026-02-25 neuroscience
10.64898/2026.02.24.707621 bioRxiv
Show abstract

A much-replicated finding in human brain imaging is a distributed "multiple-demand" or MD system, increasing in activity for many kinds of cognitive demand, and centrally involved in cognitive control. MD regions are proposed to encode a distributed mental model of critical task events, bound together in the roles and relationships needed to direct action selection. Though previous data hint at a corresponding network in the macaque, there has been no direct comparison to human data. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure whole brain activation in a multi-step saccadic maze task, compared to a control requiring similar moves but without goal-based decisions. Human data were a close match to the canonical MD network, extended to include adjacent regions and in particular much of the canonical dorsal attention network. Monkey data suggested correspondences in dorsomedial frontal, lateral and medial parietal, insula/orbitofrontal and posterior temporal cortex. In lateral frontal cortex there was just a single, largely dorsal activation patch, in contrast to multiple distinct human patches. In macaque as in human, together with previous data, our findings suggest an extended and strongly interconnected brain network recruited by increased cognitive challenge.

Matching journals

The top 5 journals account for 50% of the predicted probability mass.

1
Nature Communications
4913 papers in training set
Top 6%
18.4%
2
NeuroImage
813 papers in training set
Top 1%
10.3%
3
Communications Biology
886 papers in training set
Top 0.1%
8.3%
4
The Journal of Neuroscience
928 papers in training set
Top 2%
8.3%
5
eLife
5422 papers in training set
Top 14%
6.2%
50% of probability mass above
6
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
119 papers in training set
Top 0.3%
4.8%
7
Human Brain Mapping
295 papers in training set
Top 1%
4.8%
8
Cerebral Cortex
357 papers in training set
Top 0.2%
4.2%
9
Scientific Reports
3102 papers in training set
Top 40%
3.2%
10
Cell Reports
1338 papers in training set
Top 19%
2.6%
11
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
2130 papers in training set
Top 28%
2.0%
12
Neuron
282 papers in training set
Top 5%
2.0%
13
eneuro
389 papers in training set
Top 5%
1.9%
14
Network Neuroscience
116 papers in training set
Top 0.5%
1.8%
15
Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews
43 papers in training set
Top 0.4%
1.5%
16
Progress in Neurobiology
41 papers in training set
Top 1%
1.2%
17
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
53 papers in training set
Top 0.7%
1.2%
18
Science Advances
1098 papers in training set
Top 23%
1.2%
19
PLOS Computational Biology
1633 papers in training set
Top 20%
1.2%
20
Nature Human Behaviour
85 papers in training set
Top 3%
1.1%
21
PLOS Biology
408 papers in training set
Top 16%
0.9%
22
Imaging Neuroscience
242 papers in training set
Top 3%
0.9%
23
Neuropsychologia
77 papers in training set
Top 1.0%
0.9%
24
Cerebral Cortex Communications
36 papers in training set
Top 0.2%
0.9%
25
Current Biology
596 papers in training set
Top 13%
0.8%
26
Brain Structure and Function
83 papers in training set
Top 0.6%
0.7%
27
Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
29 papers in training set
Top 0.3%
0.7%
28
European Journal of Neuroscience
168 papers in training set
Top 2%
0.7%
29
Frontiers in Neuroscience
223 papers in training set
Top 8%
0.7%