In previous work regarding task-level control in adults, we applied rs-fcMRI to a set of regions derived from an fMRI meta-analysis that included studies of control-demanding tasks. This analysis revealed that brain regions exhibiting different combinations of control signals across many tasks are grouped into distinct “fronto-parietal” and “cingulo-opercular” functional networks [21],[36] (see Table 1 and Figure 1). Based on functional activation profiles of these regions characterized in the previous fMRI study, the fronto-parietal network appears to act on a shorter timescale, initiating and adjusting top-down control. In contrast, the cingulo-opercular network operates on a longer timescale providing “set-initiation” and stable “set-maintenance” for the duration of task blocks [37].
