Phasic alerting effects on visual processing speed are associated with intrinsic functional connectivity in the cingulo-opercular network

Abstract

External warning cues without any spatial or feature-based information lead to short-lived changes in preparatory states defined as phasic alertness. Parametric modelling of whole report task performance based on the computational theory of visual attention (TVA) has demonstrated higher visual processing speed in cue compared to no-cue conditions. Regarding the underlying neural mechanisms, individual visual processing speed has been related to intrinsic functional connectivity (iFC) within the cingulo-opercular network. The present study set out to investigate whether iFC in the cingulo-opercular network is also related to the individual ability to actively profit from warning cues, i.e. to the degree of phasic alerting. 32 healthy young participants took part in a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) session and an offline administered TVA-based whole report paradigm session. We analyzed the imaging data by combining an independent component analysis of rs-fMRI time courses and dual regression approach in order to determine iFC in the cingulo-opercular network. A subsequent voxel-wise multiple regression revealed that higher individual phasic alerting effects on visual processing speed were significantly associated with lower iFC in the cingulo-opercular network, with a peak in the left superior orbital gyrus. Phasic alertness was neither related to intra-network connectivity of other attention-relevant, auditory, or visual networks nor associated with any inter-network connectivity patterns. Taken together, the results suggest that cue-induced alerting benefits on visual processing speed are selectively associated with iFC in the cingulo-opercular network.