Default mode network and attention network in unconscious processing

The critical role of unconscious processing in problem solving had been proved by previous empirical evidence. However, we still could not understand how unconscious mind process information differently from the conscious mind. One previous study utilized an event-related potential approach to demonstrate the different processes we went through during processing unconscious cue and conscious cue. In addition to this sequential and localized processing view, this study reanalyzed the data from that study and aimed to investigate how the default mode network and attention network reacted to and engaged in the processing of an unconscious cue. Functional connectivity was measured and graph theory was utilized to obtain the network dynamics. The results showed that compared to the no cue condition, the conscious cue condition did not exhibit a different communication pattern within the default mode network and the attention network. But after the presentation of the unconscious cue, the default mode network and attention network both reacted with enhanced communication within the network. It suggests that if a stimulus is presented below the perceptual threshold, it will activate the default mode network, which might support the divergent activation of the cue. The attention network might be engaged to monitor the default mode network and inhibit some unwanted divergent activation.