The Default Mode Network and Emotional Processing: A Narrative Review of Lesion and Neuroimaging Studies
Nidhi Parihar, Manish Kumar Verma
Preprints.org July 2, 2026 preprint DOI: 10.20944/preprints202607.0140.v1 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Narrative review |
|---|---|
| Topics | Default mode network |
| Key findings | Argues that the default mode network provides the self-relevant, conceptual scaffolding of emotion, operating within interacting large-scale networks. The authors contend that convergence between functional neuroimaging, which links DMN nodes to emotional processing, and lesion studies, which show that damage to hubs like the ventromedial prefrontal cortex disrupts emotional experience and value-guided decision-making, yields the strongest conclusions, and that lesion-, stimulation-, and imaging-derived depression maps overlap substantially. |
Abstract
The default mode network (DMN)—positioned on the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC)/precuneus, and the angular gyrus, beside medial temporal and lateral temporal aids—was originally distinguished by its high resting activity and its deactivation during externally focused tasks. Although emotion has traditionally been associated with subcortical and limbic structures, growing evidence associates the DMN in the construction, appraisal, and regulation of affect. This narrative review synthesizes two complementary streams of evidence: functional and resting-state neuroimaging, which links DMN nodes to emotional processing correlationally; and lesion studies, which provide causal evidence that damage to DMN hubs—particularly the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC)—disrupts emotional experience and value-guided decision-making. Our organizing argument is that the strongest conclusions arise from the convergence of these methods: the regions where focal lesions disrupt affect, the lesion-derived circuits associated with post-lesion depression, and the nodes implicated by neuroimaging overlap substantially, and lesion-, stimulation-, and imaging-derived depression maps converge on common circuitry. We review the network’s functional-anatomic architecture, the theoretical frameworks linking it to affect, and its clinical relevance to depression, anxiety, and trauma, treating lesion network mapping as a methodological bridge while presenting the active debate over its validity. We conclude that the DMN provides the self-relevant, conceptual scaffolding of emotion, operating within interacting large-scale networks.
Comparable studies
Other narrative reviews on default mode network, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Brain's Default Mode Network | 2015 | Review | |
| Default Mode Network Activity and Connectivity in Psychopathology | 2012 | Review | |
| 20 years of the default mode network: A review and synthesis | 2023 | Review | |
| On the relationship between the “default mode network” and the “social brain” | 2012 | Review | |
| The default mode network and social understanding of others: what do brain connectivity studies tell us Healthy subjects, with some studies on patients with autism and psychopathy | 2014 | Review |