Extending metabolic considerations to the default mode network.
Yi-Sheng Wong
Behavioral and Brain Sciences October 2, 2026 DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x26106074 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Default mode network |
| Key points | Argues that the default mode network's elevated aerobic glycolysis acts as a metabolic constraint on spontaneous thought, shaping its richness across varying task demands and predicting load-dependent phenomenological shifts via inter-network resource competition. This extends Haueis and Colaço's evaluative and generative framework for metabolic considerations in cognitive modeling. |
Abstract
Haueis and Colaço distinguish evaluative and generative roles for metabolic considerations in cognitive modeling. I extend this framework to the default mode network, arguing that this network's elevated aerobic glycolysis constitutes a metabolic constraint on spontaneous thought. This constraint shapes the richness of spontaneous thought across varying task demands and predicts load-dependent phenomenological shifts through inter-network resource competition.
In the evidence
This study is part of the evidence base for a synthesis in the library. Here is how each one recorded it.
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Argues that the DMN's elevated aerobic glycolysis constitutes a metabolic constraint on spontaneous thought, predicting load-dependent phenomenological shifts through inter-network resource competition.
Synthesized
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
Cites 5
- The Brain's Default Mode Network Annual Review of Neuroscience May 4, 2015
- Default mode network can support the level of detail in experience during active task states Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences August 27, 2018
- Task-evoked metabolic demands of the posteromedial default mode network are shaped by dorsal attention and frontoparietal control networks. Elife May 25, 2023
- Dissociations between glucose metabolism and blood oxygenation in the human default mode network revealed by simultaneous PET-fMRI Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences June 30, 2021
- Does mind wandering reflect executive function or executive failure? Comment on Smallwood and Schooler (2006) and Watkins (2008). Psychological Bulletin March 1, 2010