The Default Mode Network and inner time consciousness
G. Northoff, Andrea Buccellato, Bianca Ventura
Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences June 1, 2025 DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2025.101524 (opens in new tab) via Semantic Scholar
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractThe default mode network (DMN) shows distinct dynamic and topographic features compared to other brain networks, and their link to consciousness is unclear. A review of neural and mental findings across nonordinary states of consciousness—including reduced (anesthesia, Unresponsive Wakefulness Syndrome), elevated (meditation, psychedelics), and abnormal (depression, mania) states—reveals that both reduced and elevated states involve topographic 'flattening' of DMN-centric organization but differ in dynamics: longer versus shorter timescales.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Psychology |
| Key finding | A neural continuum of DMN-centric topography and dynamics parallels a mental continuum of inner time consciousness across nonordinary states. |
Abstract
The default mode network (DMN) exhibits distinct dynamic and topographic features relative to the brain’s other networks, yet their link to consciousness remains unclear. We review both neural (DMN-based topography and dynamics) and mental (experience of time speed, mental time travel, and self-non-self) findings across diverse nonordinary states of consciousness, including reduced (anesthesia, Unresponsive Wakefulness Syndrome), elevated (meditation and, to some degree, psychedelics), and abnormal (depression, mania) consciousness. Both reduced and elevated states are featured by topographic ‘flattening’ of the brain’s DMN-centric organization while they differ in their dynamics, that is, longer versus shorter timescales. A neural continuum emerges with different degrees of DMN-centric topography along its extremes: from heightened DMN-centric re-organization in depression, over flattened configurations in psychedelics and meditation, to heightened sensorimotor-centric re-organization in mania. This neural continuum parallels a mental continuum along different balances within inner time consciousness, including slow versus fast time speed, past–present–future (mental time travel) and self versus non-self/other. In conclusion, we propose novel neurophenomenological hypotheses about the intrinsic relationship (‘complex correspondence’) of the brain’s DMN-centred topography and dynamics with inner time consciousness.