There is no single part of the brain responsible for complex functions like attention, emotion or language. Instead multiple regions of the brain, often located in different areas, “work together” forming networks. ‘Connectomics’ is the field of neuroscience that studies brain networks and research is providing answers to questions such as ‘What network of the brain is responsible for what function?’ and ‘Where are the different areas of this network located, and how are they connected?’ Important brain networks include:

Auditory Network: Helps us to hear, interpret and make sense of what we hear in the world around us. Dysregulation within this network is likely to affect some or all of the key functions listed below.

Key functions include: Auditory discrimination (distinguishing between different sounds, voices and phonemes), auditory memory (retaining and recalling sound-based information), multi-sensory integration (combining auditory input with visual, spatial or emotional cues for richer understanding), sound processing (decoding key features of sound such as frequency, pitch, timing and volume), speech and language comprehension  (interpreting the grammar, melody, rhythm and prosody), sound localisation (identifying the origin and direction of sounds in space). 

Central Executive Network: Helps us to make decisions, regulate behaviours, start tasks, stay focused and think flexibly. Dysregulation within this network is likely to affect some or all of the key functions listed below.

Key functions include: Behavioural and emotional regulation (modulating responses to maintain control and composure), cognitive flexibility (adapting thoughts or strategies in response to changing goals or environments), decision-making (evaluating options and choosing appropriate actions), goal management (setting, prioritising, and maintaining focus on long-term objectives), high-level reasoning (drawing logical conclusions, evaluating evidence and analysing abstract concepts), planning (organising steps and resources to achieve desired outcomes), problem-solving (identifying challenges and generating effective solutions), working memory (holding and manipulating information for use in ongoing tasks).

Default Mode Network: Our “internal mind”, helps us to understand ourselves, others and the world around us. Dysregulation within this network is likely to affect some or all of the key functions listed below.

Key functions include: Autobiographical memory (recalling personal experiences and facts about oneself), episodic memory (reconstructing detailed memories of specific events in time), language processing (comprehending, predicting and constructing internal narratives), mind-wandering (shifting attention away from the present to reflect on the past or anticipate the future), self-referential processing (monitoring one’s own thoughts, emotions, and beliefs), semantic memory (accessing general knowledge about the world, including facts and concepts), spatial navigation (imagining or planning movement through physical environments), theory of mind and social cognition (inferring and understanding the beliefs, intentions, and emotions of others). DMN is most active during rest, reflection and internally directed thought. 

Dorsal Attention Network: Helps us to maintain sustained, goal-directed attention despite external distractions. Dysregulation within this network is likely to affect some or all of the key functions listed below.

Key functions include: Distraction filtering (suppressing irrelevant sensory input to enhance focus and task performance), task focus and maintenance (sustaining mental effort and attention over time), top-down modulation (providing conscious, goal-driven regulation over where attention is allocated), visuospatial attention (selecting and maintaining focus on specific objects or locations in space), voluntary attentional control (consciously directing attention toward task-relevant stimuli). 

Language Network: Helps us to express our thoughts in speech and writing, and understand the speech and writing of others. Dysregulation within this network is likely to affect some or all of the key functions listed below.

Key functions include: Language comprehension (interpreting spoken and written language of others), language production (transforming thoughts into spoken or written words), phonological and syntactic processing (understanding the sounds, structure and grammar of language), pragmatic understanding (interpreting tone, context and figurative language), semantic processing (accessing the meaning of words and sentences). Note - There is evidence for some right hemisphere contributions such as understanding metaphors. 

Limbic / Para-Limbic Network: Helps us to regulate our behaviour and emotions, and is also important for learning and memory. Dysregulation within this network is likely to affect some or all of the key functions listed below.

Key functions include: Behavioural regulation (influencing instinctive reactions and adaptive responses), emotional memory (forming and retrieving emotional memories), emotional processing (generating, interpreting and regulating emotions), learning from experience (shaping future behaviour based on emotional outcomes and past events), motivation and reward (driving goal-directed behaviour and responses to pleasure or threat), network modulation (influencing how other brain networks function depending on emotional and physiological context). 

Medial Temporal Network: Helps us to learn new things, remember important experiences and know where we are. Dysregulation within this network is likely to affect some or all of the key functions listed below.

Key functions: Contextual processing (linking memories to time, place and situation), learning (associating new information with past experiences), memory encoding (particularly autobiographical and declarative memories), memory retrieval (accessing stored memories), spatial navigation (constructing and using internal maps to orient and move through environments). 

Multiple Demand Network: Helps us to make complex decisions, solve difficult problems, multi task and is involved in reasoning. Dysregulation within this network is likely to affect some or all of the key functions listed below.

Key Functions: Mental flexibility (adapting strategies in response to changing demands), multitasking and cognitive control (coordinating multiple goals or actions simultaneously), problem-solving and reasoning (managing novel, complex or ambiguous challenges), task switching (shifting efficiently between different goals or cognitive sets),  working memory (holding and manipulating information for use in ongoing tasks).

Salience Network: Helps us to prioritise and switch our attention between our thoughts and the outside world. Dysregulation within this network is likely to affect some or all of the key functions listed below.

Key functions include: Attention shifting (toggling focus between internal thoughts and the external environment), detecting salient stimuli (identifying changes or events that are important or behaviourally relevant), emotion and motivation processing (integrating signals related to pain, reward, threat, and emotional salience, in coordination with the limbic system), filtering information (evaluating sensory, emotional, and interoceptive input to determine what deserves attention), network switching (dynamically shifting control between the default mode network (DMN) and the central executive network (CEN) based on current demands). 

Sensorimotor Network: Helps us to move and control our body and interpret physical sensations. Dysregulation within this network is likely to affect some or all of the key functions listed below.

Key functions include: Evaluation of sensory input (assessing physical stimuli to guide adaptive responses), interoception (feeling internal bodily sensations eg. pain), motor coordination (ensuring smooth, accurate, and purposeful movement), sensory processing (interpreting information from touch, pressure, temperature, and body position), sensorimotor integration (combining sensory input with motor output to guide actions), unified bodily experience (merging sensory information to create a coherent sense of body position, movement and interaction with the environment), voluntary movement control (planning and executing intentional body movements).

Ventral Attention Network: Helps us to automatically reset our focus, scan the environment and respond quickly to the unexpected. Dysregulation within this network is likely to affect some or all of the key functions listed below.

Key functions include: Attention reorienting (shifting focus away from ongoing tasks to attend to new or significant information), bottom-up attention (automatically redirecting attention based on external cues rather than conscious goals), interruption response (enabling quick mental shifts in response to sudden changes or disruptions), salience monitoring (ensuring important sensory, spatial or cognitive information is not overlooked), stimulus detection (responding to unexpected, novel or salient sensory events). 

Visual Network: Helps us to see, interpret and make sense of what we see in the world around us. Dysregulation within this network is likely to affect some or all of the key functions listed below.

Key functions include: Functional and contextual assessment (judging the use, permanence, and significance of visual objects or scenes), motion detection and analysis (perceiving movement and predicting trajectories), object recognition (identifying and categorising objects, people, patterns, and faces), pattern and texture recognition (distinguishing fine details such as surface qualities and visual patterns), spatial awareness (understanding the position of objects and oneself in space), visual perception (processing and interpreting light, shapes, and colours from visual stimuli).