Glossary
Salience network
What is the salience network?
The salience network is a group of connected brain regions studied for their role in noticing relevant information and coordinating responses. Two central regions are the anterior insula and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex.
How it works
Menon’s triple-network model proposes that the salience network helps initiate switching between the default mode and executive control networks when relevant events demand a change in processing. The default mode network is associated with internally directed and self-related thought; the executive control network supports demands such as keeping task information in mind and directing attention.
The earlier model developed by Menon and Uddin gives the anterior insula a central role in detecting salient events and initiating control signals. “Switching” here describes a proposed pattern of interaction across distributed systems, rather than a literal on/off switch in one brain region.
Why it matters
Hearing your name while daydreaming in a meeting is a familiar example of a sudden shift in attention. The network model offers a way to investigate the brain activity behind such shifts. Observing the behavior alone cannot tell us exactly which network did what.
A research application
The 2011 review uses this framework to investigate problems with engaging and disengaging networks across psychiatric and neurological conditions. Researchers can ask whether altered network interactions accompany a particular cognitive difficulty. A difference found in a patient group does not establish a unique network defect that diagnoses every person with that condition.