COGNITIVE STYLE REPRESENTED IN RESTING-STATE NETWORKS

According to verbalizer-visualizer theory, people tend to have preferences for linguistic versus imagery-based information processing.Contemporary resting-state fMRI research provides a neural framework for this distinction. A verbalizer style is associated with stronger coupling among language-related temporal-frontal regions, semantic subsystems of the Default Mode network and domain-general control networks, supporting internally mediated symbolic processing. In contrast, visualizer style is linked to greater coherence within posterior visual and parietal attention networks, reflecting imagery-based and perceptual processing. The main aim of the present study was to develop a questionnaire to differentiate between verbalizers and visualizers and display these differences in resting-state networks. Fifty healthy adults (22 male, 28 female, mean age 22.65 years) participated in this study. All participants performed a newly developed questionnaire and performed resting-state fMRI in a 3T Siemens Skyra Scanner. Following standard SPM preprocessing steps, data were analyzed using the CONN toolbox. Using a network-based statistics approach, differences in resting-state networks were observed between cognitive styles in both, domain-specific networks, such as the Language and the Visual networks, and domain-general networks, such as the Default Mode network. Based on these findings, we were able to show that verbalizers and visualizers differed in their resting-state networks. These results are important with respect to the generalization of resting-state studies, as the individual cognitive style may impact the outcome of these studies.