The human brain constantly processes enormous amounts of information. Even a familiar activity such as driving requires multiple mental tasks at the same time. The brain must remember routes, control the vehicle, monitor traffic, and respond quickly to unexpected events such as road closures or changing road conditions.
A brain network called the frontoparietal cortex plays a central role in managing this continuous flow of information. It receives signals from across the brain, identifies the most important information, and helps coordinate an appropriate response.
A new study from the University of Iowa offers a closer look at how the frontoparietal cortex supports decision-making under uncertainty. The findings reveal that this brain network dynamically organizes information and coordinates responses involving both the brain and the body.
Researchers at the University of Iowa have identified new details about the brain’s information-processing hub, the frontoparietal cortex. In this figure, the colored regions highlight frontoparietal areas that track uncertainty when participants encounter changes in previously learned associations. Image courtesy of the Kai Huang Laboratory at the University of Iowa.
How the brain changes communication
Using experiments that combined computer modeling with functional brain imaging, researchers found that the frontoparietal cortex does not communicate with other brain regions in a fixed pattern. Instead, its connections change according to the type of information required at each stage of decision-making.
The findings may help guide future research into neurological and psychiatric conditions in which information exchange between brain regions may function differently, including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and schizophrenia.
“Our study shows in more detail how the frontoparietal cortex works: what kind of information it extracts from other systems, and how it uses its connectivity patterns to integrate information coming in from different regions of the brain,” said Kai Huang, associate professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and corresponding author of the study. “That’s the main contribution.”
Scientists have long recognized that the frontoparietal cortex is essential for decision-making. Its role is similar to that of an air traffic controller managing a busy airport. The network continuously receives information from other areas of the brain, but it does more than collect these signals. Depending on the situation, it filters out less important information while focusing on signals that are most relevant.
Building a picture from incomplete information
In a 2025 study, Huang and his colleagues found that the frontoparietal cortex continually creates high-level summaries of information arriving from other brain systems. It evaluates signals that may be incomplete or uncertain and combines them into a more useful overall representation. This process helps guide other brain regions toward an appropriate response.
“It’s like other areas of the brain don’t have all the information, so they send information to the frontoparietal cortex for guidance,” Huang explained.
The new research builds on those findings by examining how adaptable the frontoparietal cortex is. Specifically, the researchers wanted to determine how communication between the frontoparietal cortex and other brain regions changes when the demands of a task or situation shift.
To investigate this question, the research team recruited 38 participants between the ages of 18 and 35. Participants learned associations between different combinations of colors, faces, and scenes and specific responses. The responses required them to press a button using the index or middle finger of either hand.
The researchers then changed the learned pairings. Participants had to recognize that the associations had changed, learn the new relationships, and select the correct button using the appropriate hand and finger.
Creating and tracking uncertainty
Changing the instructions introduced uncertainty into the task. This allowed researchers to observe how the frontoparietal cortex altered its connections with other brain systems as participants tried to determine what had changed.
“If you get it right all the time, you know you’re making the right associations. But once you start making the wrong associations, you have to ask, ‘Did the context change, or maybe I didn’t see the color clearly enough?’ That creates uncertainty,” Huang said.
The researchers combined participants’ behavioral data with functional MRI scans. They then used the results to develop a computational model that separated signals from different brain regions and showed how the frontoparietal cortex integrates this information.
“Rather than simply becoming more active during difficult tasks, we observed how this network dynamically changes the way it communicates with other brain regions depending on what information is needed at each stage of decision-making,” Huang said.
The results suggest that increasing activity in the frontoparietal cortex alone may not be enough to manage difficult decisions. Instead, the network appears to adjust which brain regions it communicates with based on the specific information needed at a particular moment.
Potential links to ADHD and other disorders
The findings could eventually contribute to research on mental health conditions that make it difficult to adjust behavior when circumstances change. These challenges may occur in ADHD, for example, when a person has difficulty controlling impulses or regulating behavior in different settings, such as speaking too loudly in a library.
“These are situations where people are having a hard time regulating their behavior. For me, it’s an integration issue. If that integration function isn’t working properly, it very likely means they’re not using the right context to regulate their behavior,” Huang said.
Stephanie Leach, a sixth-year graduate student in Huang’s laboratory, helped design the project, led the participant experiments, and co-led preparation of the manuscript.
“Having the opportunity to conduct this research was especially rewarding because it allowed us to contribute to answering questions about the human brain—the most fascinating, mysterious, and complex system we know,” said Leach, the study’s lead author.
The research highlights how connections within the frontoparietal brain network integrate information from multiple sources to support flexible decision-making. Neuroscience journal.
Other contributors included Jiefeng Jiang and Shannon Stokes, who led the computational modeling. Both researchers are members of the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences.
The study was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and the Iowa Neuroscience Institute.
Source: www.sciencedaily.com