---
title: "Attention Control Network"
docid: "a1bedda5-6478-40b2-98e7-6c5f5363b06f"
authors:
  - key: "15a1b74a-5576-4e3a-a193-2d84e315fbd0"
    value: "Jeffrey S. Anderson, MD, PhD"
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lastUpdated: "02/23/21"
pageDescription: "Attention Control Network"
pageKeywords: "Brain, Anatomy, Brain Network Anatomy, Attention Control Network"
pageTitle: "Attention Control Network | STATdx"
enhancedTitle: "Attention Control Network"
type: "ANATOMY"
references: true
breadcrumbs:
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  - "Anatomy"
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---
# IMAGING ANATOMY

- ## Overview
  
  
    - Attention control network is a constellation of distributed brain networks processing attention to external stimuli and symbols
          - Many aliases: Task-positive network, frontoparietal network, executive control network, and central executive network, each referring to subsets of the attention control network
          - Terminology is not standard in the literature, and different authors use many of these terms interchangeably or to refer to different subsets of a broader attentional network
- ## Dorsal Attention Network
  
  
    - Function: Voluntary control of attentional focus and goal-directed behavior
    - Regions: Intraparietal sulcus, frontal eye fields, middle temporal, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
          - Intraparietal sulcus
                  - Weighting of sensory inputs: Direct control of relative "value" or "attention" to sensory stimuli
                  - Topographically organized by stimulus modality and spatial location
          - Frontal eye fields and supplementary eye fields
                  - Control of direction of gaze to attentionally relevant stimuli
          - Middle temporal (MT)
                  - Motion perception, dynamic features of attention
          - Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC)
                  - Shared with ventral attention network, representations of objects and symbols, working memory
- ## Ventral Attention Network
  
  
    - Function: Control of reorienting to relevant stimuli, working memory
    - Aliases: Frontoparietal control network, executive control network
    - Regions: Supramarginal and angular gyri, inferior frontal gyrus, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, ventral anterior cingulate cortex
          - Inferior parietal lobule (supramarginal and angular gyri)
          - Inferior frontal gyrus
          - DLPFC
          - Ventral anterior cingulate cortex
- ## Salience Network
  
  
    - Function: Detection of novel or salient stimuli
    - Aliases: Novelty detection network, cingulo-opercular network
    - Regions: Frontoinsula, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex
          - Frontoinsula
                  - "Sensory" arm of salience network
                  - Mid superior insula: Detection of stimulus salience
                  - Mid inferior insula: Detection of emotive salience
                  - Anterior insula: Control of attention
          - Dorsal anterior cingulate cortex
                  - "Motor" arm of salience network
                  - More anterior (pregenual) cingulate more associated with emotive salience, merges with ventral attention network

# ANATOMY IMAGING ISSUES

- ## Imaging Recommendations
  
  
    - Specific subnetworks may be activated by specific tasks (e.g., oddball task for salience network, n-back task for dorsal attention network)
- ## Imaging Pitfalls
  
  
    - Many fMRI tasks have differential stimulus attention between active and control conditions
          - Activation in attentional regions may not be task specific, but a general consequence of differential attention between conditions
- ## Network Relationships
  
  
    - Attention control network is anticorrelated to default mode network: When one is active, the other tends to be less active
          - Allows focus of attention to shift between external and internal stimuli
          - Gradients of anticorrelation across the attention control network are seen with specific subregions of each network hub showing greatest anticorrelation
    - Attentional regions typically located in association cortex in regions spatially "equidistant" from primary sensory areas
          - Flow of information from primary sensory to unimodal sensory association cortex to polymodal association cortex

# CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS

- ## Clinical Importance
  
  
    - Right-dominant network for attention in most individuals
          - Lesions of right ventral attention network may produce hemispatial neglect

 6e3d29ca-3af0-4a42-b125-7ec5fad53f3f

## References

# Selected References

1. [Petersen SE et al: The attention system of the human brain: 20 years after. Annu Rev Neurosci. 35:73-89, 2012](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=22524787%5Bpmid%5D)
1. [Anderson JS et al: Connectivity gradients between the default mode and attention control networks. Brain Connect. 1(2):147-57, 2011](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=22076305%5Bpmid%5D)
1. [Anderson JS et al: Topographic maps of multisensory attention. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 107(46):20110-4, 2010](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=21041658%5Bpmid%5D)
1. [Dosenbach NU et al: A dual-networks architecture of top-down control. Trends Cogn Sci. 12(3):99-105, 2008](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=18262825%5Bpmid%5D)
1. [Seeley WW et al: Dissociable intrinsic connectivity networks for salience processing and executive control. J Neurosci. 27(9):2349-56, 2007](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=17329432%5Bpmid%5D)
1. [Fox MD et al: Spontaneous neuronal activity distinguishes human dorsal and ventral attention systems. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 103(26):10046-51, 2006](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=16788060%5Bpmid%5D)
1. [Fox MD et al: The human brain is intrinsically organized into dynamic, anticorrelated functional networks. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 102(27):9673-8, 2005](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=15976020%5Bpmid%5D)
1. [Corbetta M et al: Control of goal-directed and stimulus-driven attention in the brain. Nat Rev Neurosci. 3(3):201-15, 2002](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=11994752%5Bpmid%5D)


## Images


### Attention Control Network

![Subnetworks of the attention control network are shown. The mask of attention control network regions was obtained from brain voxels correlated with r > 0.15 to 4 seeds in the bilateral intraparietal sulcus and bilateral superior insula in 1,353 subjects. Functional connectivity was calculated for each voxel within this mask to 7,266 gray matter regions, and voxels were parcellated into 3 clusters using a k-means algorithm based on similar connectivity to the rest of the brain. The voxels in blue show characteristic distribution of the dorsal attention network, including frontal eye fields, intraparietal sulcus, and middle temporal areas. The voxels in green show characteristic distribution of the salience network, including insula and dorsal anterior cingulate areas. The voxels in red show a distribution most consistent with the ventral attention network, including dorsolateral prefrontal, inferior frontal, ventral anterior cingulate, and supramarginal gyrus areas.](images/app.statdx.com_image_b49bad74-6fc8-4185-881e-cec0fb281984_65483bd0_20251014T185159Z.jpg)
*Subnetworks of the attention control network are shown. The mask of attention control network regions was obtained from brain voxels correlated with r > 0.15 to 4 seeds in the bilateral intraparietal sulcus and bilateral superior insula in 1,353 subjects. Functional connectivity was calculated for each voxel within this mask to 7,266 gray matter regions, and voxels were parcellated into 3 clusters using a k-means algorithm based on similar connectivity to the rest of the brain. The voxels in blue show characteristic distribution of the dorsal attention network, including frontal eye fields, intraparietal sulcus, and middle temporal areas. The voxels in green show characteristic distribution of the salience network, including insula and dorsal anterior cingulate areas. The voxels in red show a distribution most consistent with the ventral attention network, including dorsolateral prefrontal, inferior frontal, ventral anterior cingulate, and supramarginal gyrus areas.*

![Subnetworks of the attention control network are shown. The mask of attention control network regions was obtained from brain voxels correlated with r > 0.15 to 4 seeds in the bilateral intraparietal sulcus and bilateral superior insula in 1,353 subjects. Functional connectivity was calculated for each voxel within this mask to 7,266 gray matter regions, and voxels were parcellated into 3 clusters using a k-means algorithm based on similar connectivity to the rest of the brain. The voxels in blue show characteristic distribution of the dorsal attention network, including frontal eye fields, intraparietal sulcus, and middle temporal areas. The voxels in green show characteristic distribution of the salience network, including insula and dorsal anterior cingulate areas. The voxels in red show a distribution most consistent with the ventral attention network, including dorsolateral prefrontal, inferior frontal, ventral anterior cingulate, and supramarginal gyrus areas.](images/app.statdx.com_image_thumbnail_b49bad74-6fc8-4185-881e-cec0fb281984_size_168_quality_85_80971dd9_20251014T185127Z.jpg)
*Subnetworks of the attention control network are shown. The mask of attention control network regions was obtained from brain voxels correlated with r > 0.15 to 4 seeds in the bilateral intraparietal sulcus and bilateral superior insula in 1,353 subjects. Functional connectivity was calculated for each voxel within this mask to 7,266 gray matter regions, and voxels were parcellated into 3 clusters using a k-means algorithm based on similar connectivity to the rest of the brain. The voxels in blue show characteristic distribution of the dorsal attention network, including frontal eye fields, intraparietal sulcus, and middle temporal areas. The voxels in green show characteristic distribution of the salience network, including insula and dorsal anterior cingulate areas. The voxels in red show a distribution most consistent with the ventral attention network, including dorsolateral prefrontal, inferior frontal, ventral anterior cingulate, and supramarginal gyrus areas.*

![Subnetworks of the attention control network are shown. The mask of attention control network regions was obtained from brain voxels correlated with r > 0.15 to 4 seeds in the bilateral intraparietal sulcus and bilateral superior insula in 1,353 subjects. Functional connectivity was calculated for each voxel within this mask to 7,266 gray matter regions, and voxels were parcellated into 3 clusters using a k-means algorithm based on similar connectivity to the rest of the brain. The voxels in blue show characteristic distribution of the dorsal attention network, including frontal eye fields, intraparietal sulcus, and middle temporal areas. The voxels in green show characteristic distribution of the salience network, including insula and dorsal anterior cingulate areas. The voxels in red show a distribution most consistent with the ventral attention network, including dorsolateral prefrontal, inferior frontal, ventral anterior cingulate, and supramarginal gyrus areas.](images/app.statdx.com_image_thumbnail_b49bad74-6fc8-4185-881e-cec0fb281984_size_174_quality_85_8d0b7afb_20251014T185126Z.jpg)
*Subnetworks of the attention control network are shown. The mask of attention control network regions was obtained from brain voxels correlated with r > 0.15 to 4 seeds in the bilateral intraparietal sulcus and bilateral superior insula in 1,353 subjects. Functional connectivity was calculated for each voxel within this mask to 7,266 gray matter regions, and voxels were parcellated into 3 clusters using a k-means algorithm based on similar connectivity to the rest of the brain. The voxels in blue show characteristic distribution of the dorsal attention network, including frontal eye fields, intraparietal sulcus, and middle temporal areas. The voxels in green show characteristic distribution of the salience network, including insula and dorsal anterior cingulate areas. The voxels in red show a distribution most consistent with the ventral attention network, including dorsolateral prefrontal, inferior frontal, ventral anterior cingulate, and supramarginal gyrus areas.*