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Ongoing Brain Activity and Its Role in Cognition: Dual versus Baseline Models

Georg Northoff, Deniz Vatansever, Andrea Scalabrini, Emmanuel A. Stamatakis

The Neuroscientist May 25, 2022 DOI: 10.1177/10738584221081752 (opens in new tab)

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AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed
Topics Default mode network
Keywords Cognition Cognitive science Cognitive psychology Electroencephalography
Citations 53
Key points Proposes that ongoing brain activity serves as a neuronal baseline providing a shared neural code that integrates rest and task states, default-mode and non-default-mode networks, and internally and externally oriented cognition.

Abstract

What is the role of the brain's ongoing activity for cognition? The predominant perspectives associate ongoing brain activity with resting state, the default-mode network (DMN), and internally oriented mentation. This triad is often contrasted with task states, non-DMN brain networks, and externally oriented mentation, together comprising a "dual model" of brain and cognition. In opposition to this duality, however, we propose that ongoing brain activity serves as a neuronal baseline; this builds upon Raichle's original search for the default mode of brain function that extended beyond the canonical default-mode brain regions. That entails what we refer to as the "baseline model." Akin to an internal biological clock for the rest of the organism, the ongoing brain activity may serve as an internal point of reference or standard by providing a shared neural code for the brain's rest as well as task states, including their associated cognition. Such shared neural code is manifest in the spatiotemporal organization of the brain's ongoing activity, including its global signal topography and dynamics like intrinsic neural timescales. We conclude that recent empirical evidence supports a baseline model over the dual model; the ongoing activity provides a global shared neural code that allows integrating the brain's rest and task states, its DMN and non-DMN, and internally and externally oriented cognition.

Comparable studies

Other theoretical and historical papers on default mode network, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
The entropic brain: a theory of conscious states informed by neuroimaging research with psychedelic drugs 2014 Theoretical or philosophical paper
The default mode network in cognition: a topographical perspective 2021 Theoretical or philosophical paper
The default mode network: where the idiosyncratic self meets the shared social world 2021 Theoretical or philosophical paper
The default-mode, ego-functions and free-energy: a neurobiological account of Freudian ideas 2010 Theoretical or philosophical paper
Cooperation between the default mode network and the frontal–parietal network in the production of an internal train of thought 2011 Theoretical or philosophical paper

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