Macroscale brain states support the control of semantic cognition

Abstract It’s crucial in neuroscience to understand how the human brain adapts to varying cognitive demands. This study investigates network reconfiguration during controlled semantic retrieval in differing contexts. We analyzed brain responses to two semantic tasks of varying difficulty – global association and feature matching judgments – which were contrasted with non-semantic tasks on the cortical surface and within a whole-brain state space. Demanding semantic association tasks elicited activation in anterior prefrontal and temporal regions, while challenging semantic feature matching and non-semantic tasks predominantly activated posterior regions. Task difficulty also modulated activation along different dimensions of functional organization, suggesting different mechanisms of cognitive control. More demanding semantic association judgments engaged cognitive control and default mode networks together, while feature matching and non-semantic tasks were skewed towards cognitive control networks. These findings highlight the brain’s dynamic ability to tailor its networks to support diverse neurocognitive states, enriching our understanding of controlled cognition.