The Default Mode Network and inner time consciousness
Georg Northoff, Andrea Buccellato, Bianca Ventura
Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences June 1, 2025 DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2025.101524 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Default mode network |
| Key findings | 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.
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 |
Citations in the library
Cited by 3
- Active inference, computational phenomenology, and advanced meditation: Toward the formalization of the experience of meditation. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews March 1, 2026
- A spectrum of self-processing modes: Indian philosophical insights and contemporary science on wellbeing Frontiers in Psychology July 7, 2026
- Mnemonic Emergence Theory of Consciousness: A Hierarchical Memory Architecture in the Organization for Meaning, Integration, and Self. Bio Systems September 29, 2026
Cites 28
- A default mode of brain function Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences January 16, 2001
- REBUS and the Anarchic Brain: Toward a Unified Model of the Brain Action of Psychedelics Pharmacological Reviews June 20, 2019
- 20 years of the default mode network: A review and synthesis Neuron May 10, 2023
- How do the brain's time and space mediate consciousness and its different dimensions? Temporo-spatial theory of consciousness (TTC). Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews September 1, 2017
- Dimensions of consciousness and the psychedelic state Neuroscience of Consciousness 2018
and 23 more in the library