Human Brain Mapping
January 24, 2008
Lucina Q. Uddin, A.M. Clare Kelly, Bharat B. Biswal et al.
1,198 citations
The default mode network (DMN), which is most active when the mind is at rest, is often treated as a single system, but its two main hubs—the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC)—interact with different task-focused brain networks. Using resting-state fMRI and a seed correlation approach, activity in vmPFC negatively predicted activity in networks for visual spatial and temporal attention, while activity in PCC negatively predicted activity in motor control circuits. Granger causality analyses indicated that vmPFC and PCC exert greater influence on their anticorrelated networks than the reverse, suggesting these DMN nodes may directly modulate task-positive networks. The DMN is thus more heterogeneous than commonly appreciated.
Neuroimage
April 11, 2010
Kaustubh Supekar, Lucina Q. Uddin, Katherine E. Prater et al.
548 citations
The default-mode network (DMN) undergoes significant developmental changes in functional and structural connectivity from childhood to adulthood, but these changes are not uniform across all DMN nodes. The connection between the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) along the cingulum bundle is the most immature link in children. Structural connectivity between PCC and left medial temporal lobe is weak or non-existent in children, yet functional connectivity does not differ from adults. Gray matter volume differences and macrostructural and microstructural differences in the dorsal cingulum bundle also appear. Maturation of PCC-mPFC structural connectivity likely supports self-related and social-cognitive functions emerging during adolescence.
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
January 1, 2013
Istvan Molnar-Szakacs, Lucina Q. Uddin
221 citations
The default mode network (DMN) is not a single, uniform system but contains functionally distinct subdivisions with unique connectivity patterns. Recent advances in resting-state functional connectivity reveal complex organization within key DMN nodes—medial prefrontal cortex and posterior cingulate cortex—and between these nodes and other brain systems. This review examines how DMN subdivisions relate to self-referential and social-cognitive processing. The authors propose that embodied simulation and mentalizing work together to provide coherent representations of self and others: embodiment engages the same neural systems for self- and other-understanding through simulation, while mentalizing uses high-level conceptual information to infer mental states. DMN nodes selectively interact with brain systems for embodiment and mentalizing, including the mirror neuron system, to support social-cognitive demands.
Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging
April 1, 2025
Vaibhav Tripathi, Ishaan Batta, Andre Zamani et al.
23 citations
The default mode network (DMN) is linked to self-referential thinking, memory, and goal-directed cognition. Its functional connectivity with frontoparietal networks involved in attention and executive control may indicate cognitive health. This review examines DMN connectivity metrics as potential biomarkers across states like attention, mind wandering, and meditation, and in conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, depression, and ADHD. It also addresses the reliability of network estimation and offers recommendations for using functional connectivity measures as biomarkers of cognitive health.
Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.)
January 1, 2025
Brandon Taraku, Jason S Nomi, Artemis Zavaliangos-Petropulu et al.
Ketamine treatment alters how brain networks dynamically interact in people with treatment-resistant depression. After four ketamine infusions over two weeks, patients spent less time in a visual-network brain state and more time in a central-executive-network state. Transitions between the salience network and central executive network increased, while salience-to-visual transitions decreased. Reduced time in the salience-network state was linked to less rumination. Before treatment, depressed patients differed from healthy controls in these same dynamic patterns, suggesting ketamine may shift network dynamics toward a healthier profile.
April 14, 2024
Vaibhav Tripathi, Ishaan Batta, Andre Zamani et al.
preprint
The default mode network (DMN) supports self-referential thinking, memory, and understanding others. Its functional connectivity with frontoparietal and dorsal attention networks is anti-correlated: when attention turns outward, the DMN deactivates. This switching between internal and external modes, mediated by salience networks, may indicate cognitive health. Resting-state fMRI enables large-scale datasets for standardized connectivity benchmarks. This review examines DMN connectivity metrics as potential biomarkers of cognitive state in attention, mind wandering, meditation, and clinical conditions like anxiety, depression, ADHD, and PTSD. It also addresses reliability issues and offers recommendations for using connectivity measures as biomarkers of cognitive health.