The architecture of the human default mode network explored through cytoarchitecture, wiring and signal flow

The default mode network (DMN) is a set of brain regions important for complex thought and behavior. By combining postmortem tissue analysis and brain scans, researchers found that the DMN contains different types of cells, some specialized for processing single senses, others for combining information, and still others for memory. The DMN includes regions that receive input from sensory areas and a core that is relatively cut off from direct sensory information. Analysis of how signals flow through the DMN showed it uniquely balances output across different levels of sensory processing. These findings provide a structural basis for understanding the DMN's broad role in brain function and cognition.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The default mode network (DMN) is implicated in many aspects of complex thought and behavior. Here, we leverage postmortem histology and in vivo neuroimaging to characterize the anatomy of the DMN to better understand its role in information processing and cortical communication. Our results show that the DMN is cytoarchitecturally heterogenous, containing cytoarchitectural types that are variably specialized for unimodal, heteromodal and memory-related processing. Studying diffusion-based structural connectivity in combination with cytoarchitecture, we found the DMN contains regions receptive to input from sensory cortex and a core that is relatively insulated from environmental input. Finally, analysis of signal flow with effective connectivity models showed that the DMN is unique amongst cortical networks in balancing its output across the levels of sensory hierarchies. Together, our study establishes an anatomical foundation from which accounts of the broad role the DMN plays in human brain function and cognition can be developed.