The brain's center of gravity: how the default mode network helps us to understand the self
Christopher G. Davey, Ben J. Harrison
World Psychiatry September 7, 2018 DOI: 10.1002/wps.20553 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Default mode network |
| Citations | 60 |
| Key points | Argues that the self, though intuitively grasped, defies simple definition, and that it can be broadly divided into an experiencing self and an extended self that is perceived as an object. Notes that comparable distinctions appear in William James's "I" and "me," Damasio's core and autobiographical self, and Gallagher's minimal and narrative self. |
Abstract
The self is an elusive concept. We have an intuitive sense as to what it refers to, but it defies simple definition. There is some consensus that the self can be broadly separated into what W. James referred to as the "I" and the "me" – the self that experiences, and the self that extends outwards in space and in time, allowing it to be perceived as an object1. This includes the self as physical object (the body), and as an abstract object with beliefs and attitudes. Divisions of the self similar to James's have been suggested by Damasio (the core and the autobiographical self)2 and Gallagher (the minimal and the narrative self)3.
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 |
Citations in the library
Cited by 16
- REBUS and the Anarchic Brain: Toward a Unified Model of the Brain Action of Psychedelics Pharmacological Reviews June 20, 2019
- The Radically Embodied Conscious Cybernetic Bayesian Brain: From Free Energy to Free Will and Back Again. Entropy (Basel, Switzerland) June 20, 2021
- An interpersonal neurobiology perspective on the mind and mental health: personal, public, and planetary well-being Annals of General Psychiatry February 3, 2023
- Forgetting ourselves in flow: an active inference account of flow states and how we experience ourselves within them Frontiers in Psychology June 3, 2024
- Synergistic, multi-level understanding of psychedelics: three systematic reviews and meta-analyses of their pharmacology, neuroimaging and phenomenology. Translational Psychiatry December 4, 2024
and 11 more in the library