TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2016//
TI  - Functional split brain in a driving/listening paradigm
JO  - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
A1  - Sasai, Shuntaro
A1  - Boly, Mélanie
A1  - Mensen, Armand
A1  - Tononi, Giulio
SP  - 14444
EP  - 14449
VL  - 113
IS  - 50
N2  - We often engage in two concurrent but unrelated activities, such as driving on a quiet road while listening to the radio. When we do so, does our brain split into functionally distinct entities? To address this question, we imaged brain activity with fMRI in experienced drivers engaged in a driving simulator while listening either to global positioning system instructions (integrated task) or to a radio show (split task). We found that, compared with the integrated task, the split task was characterized by reduced multivariate functional connectivity between the driving and listening networks. Furthermore, the integrated information content of the two networks, predicting their joint dynamics above and beyond their independent dynamics, was high in the integrated task and zero in the split task. Finally, individual subjects' ability to switch between high and low information integration predicted their driving performance across integrated and split tasks. This study raises the possibility that under certain conditions of daily life, a single brain may support two independent functional streams, a "functional split brain" similar to what is observed in patients with an anatomical split.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0027-8424
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1613200113
ID  - ref1
ER  -