Abstract
The current state of label conventions used to describe brain networks related to executive functions is highly inconsistent, leading to confusion among researchers regarding network labels. Visually similar networks are referred to by different labels, yet these same labels are used to distinguish networks within studies. We performed a literature review of fMRI studies and identified nine frequently-used labels that are used to describe topographically or functionally similar neural networks: central executive network (CEN), cognitive control network (CCN), dorsal attention network (DAN), executive control network (ECN), executive network (EN), frontoparietal network (FPN), working memory network (WMN), task positive network (TPN), and ventral attention network (VAN). Our aim was to meta-analytically determine consistency of network topography within and across these labels. We hypothesized finding considerable overlap in the spatial topography among the neural networks associated with these labels. An image-based meta-analysis was performed on 158 group-level statistical maps (SPMs) received from authors of 69 papers listed on PubMed. Our results indicated that there was very little consistency in the SPMs labeled with a given network name. We identified four clusters of SPMs representing four spatially distinct executive function networks. We provide recommendations regarding label nomenclature and propose that authors looking to assign labels to executive function networks adopt this template set for labeling networks.
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Data Availability
Unthresholded and thresholded statistical maps of the image-based meta-analysis results are available for download from NeuroVault (https://identifiers.org/neurovault.collection:8448).
Code Availability
The NiMARE software used for the image-based meta-analysis results reported in this manuscript is available for download (https://nimare.readthedocs.io/en/latest/index.html; https://github.com/neurostuff/NiMARE).
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Acknowledgements
The authors wish to extend a sincere thank you to all of the authors who provided their published statistical maps, thus allowing us to perform these analyses. A special thanks go to those authors who went on extended scavenger hunts through their archives in an effort to assist us with our project. ARL, MCR, and TS were supported by NSF 1631325 and NIH R01 DA041353.
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ARL, MCR, and TS were supported by NSF 1631325 and NIH R01 DA041353.
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HvEV, STW, MCR, and ARL conceived of and designed the study. HvEV and STW performed the literature search and collected the published SPMs. TS and MCR contributed scripts, performed meta-analyses, and drafted the figures. HvEV and STW co-wrote the manuscript. All authors contributed to the revisions and approved the final version. HvEV and STW contributed equally to this work.
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Witt, S.T., van Ettinger-Veenstra, H., Salo, T. et al. What Executive Function Network is that? An Image-Based Meta-Analysis of Network Labels. Brain Topogr 34, 598–607 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10548-021-00847-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10548-021-00847-z