We confirmed evidence from intrinsic coupling fluctuations by inducing “virtual DMN lesions” and computing a series of perturbed CCA models. This analysis tactic allowed the determination of subregions most critical across all 19 DMN−networks modes (SI Appendix, Figs. S7 and S8). Lower-correlation results indicate that removing that region leads to a quite different result, thus emphasizing the important influence of a “deleted” subregion in the original CCA decompositions. The obtained importance ranking substantiated the relevant connectivity links from particular DMN subregions: the anterior TPJs [right TPJ-1 r = 0.15 ± 0.16 (SD of bootstrap distributions), left TPJ-1 r = 0.46 ± 0.17], precuneus (PMC-1 r = 0.09 ± 0.12), and lateral vmPFC (left vmPFC-2 r = 0.26 ± 0.18, right vmPFC-2 r = 0.44 ± 0.17). The analysis showed that neural signals in these subregions, rather than the DMN as a whole, were most important in the model’s ability to determine functionally related patterns in the interactions between other brain networks.
