PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Caterina Gratton
AU  - Ally Dworetsky
AU  - Babatunde Adeyemo
AU  - Benjamin A. Seitzman
AU  - Derek M. Smith
AU  - Steven E. Petersen
AU  - Maital Neta
TI  - The cingulo-opercular network is composed of two distinct sub-systems
AID  - 10.1101/2022.09.16.508254
DP  - 2022 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2022.09.16.508254
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/09/18/2022.09.16.508254.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/09/18/2022.09.16.508254.full
AB  - The cingulo-opercular (CO) network and its two best studied regions – the dorsal anterior cingulate and anterior insula – have been linked to task control, but also implicated in many additional processes across cognitive, social, and emotional domains. However, most prior work investigating the CO network has used a group-average approach, which may mix signals across nearby regions that vary across individuals. Here, we reevaluate the CO network’s role in task control with both task and rest fMRI, using regions with a high probability of CO network agreement across individuals. Hierarchical clustering analyses suggest heterogeneity in the CO network’s task response properties, with one sub-system (CO1) showing consistency with prior task control characterizations while another sub-system (CO2) has weak task control responses, but preserved ties to pain and motor functions. Resting-state connectivity confirms subtle differences in the architecture of these two sub-systems. This evidence suggests that, when individual variation in network locations is addressed, the CO network includes (at least) two linked sub-systems with differential roles in task control and other cognitive/motor/interoceptive responses, which may help explain varied accounts of its functions. We propose that this fractionation may reflect expansion of primary CO body-oriented control functions to broader domain-general contexts.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.