Many goal-directed, as well as spontaneous everyday activities (e.g., planning, mind-wandering), rely on an internal focus of attention. This fMRI–eye-tracking coregistration study investigated brain mechanisms and eye behavior related to internally versus externally directed cognition. Building on an established paradigm, we manipulated internal attention demands within tasks utilizing conditional stimulus masking. Internally directed cognition involved bilateral activation of the lingual gyrus and inferior parietal lobe areas as well as wide-spread deactivation of visual networks. Moreover, internally directed cognition was related to greater pupil diameter, pupil diameter variance, blink duration, fixation disparity variance, and smaller amounts of microsaccades. FMRI–eye-tracking covariation analyses further revealed that larger pupil diameter was related to increased activation of basal ganglia and lingual gyrus. It can be concluded that internally and externally directed cognition are characterized by distinct neurophysiological signatures. The observed neurophysiological differences indicate that internally directed cognition is associated with reduced processing of task-irrelevant information and increased mental load. These findings shed further light on the interplay between neural and perceptual mechanisms contributing to an internal focus of attention.

许多以目标为导向的以及自发的日常活动（例如，计划、走神）都依赖于内部注意力的集中。这项 fMRI 眼动追踪配准研究调查了与内部和外部定向认知相关的大脑机制和眼部行为。在既定范式的基础上，我们利用条件刺激掩蔽来操纵任务中的内部注意力需求。内部定向认知涉及舌回和下顶叶区域的双侧激活以及视觉网络的广泛失活。此外，内部定向认知与较大的瞳孔直径、瞳孔直径变异、眨眼持续时间、注视差异变异和较小量的微眼跳有关。FMRI-眼动追踪协变分析进一步表明，较大的瞳孔直径与基底神经节和舌回的激活增加有关。可以得出结论，内部和外部定向认知的特征在于不同的神经生理学特征。观察到的神经生理学差异表明，内部定向认知与任务无关信息的处理减少和精神负荷增加有关。这些发现进一步阐明了导致内部注意力集中的神经和感知机制之间的相互作用。观察到的神经生理学差异表明，内部定向认知与任务无关信息的处理减少和精神负荷增加有关。这些发现进一步阐明了导致内部注意力集中的神经和感知机制之间的相互作用。观察到的神经生理学差异表明，内部定向认知与任务无关信息的处理减少和精神负荷增加有关。这些发现进一步阐明了导致内部注意力集中的神经和感知机制之间的相互作用。