Trait dialectical thinking is associated with the strength of functional coupling between the dACC and the default mode network

Abstract

Dialectical thinking is an overarching and sophisticated thinking style that involves accepting and resolving contradictions. The current study examined whether the dispositional tendency of dialectical thinking is mediated by organizational patterns of intrinsic brain networks. Based on previous theoretical and empirical works, we hypothesized that the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), the hub for conflict processing, shows increased couplings with nodes in the default mode network (DMN). A sample of 380 young and healthy participants completed a self-reported measure of dialectical thinking and underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning. Results of seed-based correlational ROI and whole-brain analyses supported our hypothesis that trait dialectical thinking was positively correlated with the strength of the dACC-DMN couplings. These findings demonstrate the possibility of identifying network-level neural representations of sociocultural orientations.