Resting state default mode network is associated with wise advising
Scientific Reports August 30, 2023 Chao S. Hu, Yanbin Zheng, Guang-Heng Dong et al.
Resting-state activity in the default mode network (DMN) may support wisdom when people give advice from a self-referential perspective. In 52 adults, those who advised youths from a second-person perspective felt significantly closer to the youths than those who advised from a third-person perspective. Only in the second-person condition was metacognitive humility—a component of wisdom—linked to DMN activity in the right rostral anterior cingulate cortex and left dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. The right rostral ACC showed a stronger association with metacognitive humility in the second- than third-person condition. The findings suggest that resting DMN activity may be important for wisdom expressed in direct, self-involved advice.