International review of psychiatry (Abingdon, England)
September 2026
Thiago Paranhos, Anna Du, Ryan Eckbo et al.
Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has been explored as an intervention in typical amnestic Alzheimer's Disease (AD). However, its effects on episodic and associative memory in atypical forms of AD are less known. Posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) is primarily characterized by visuospatial and visuoperceptual symptoms, although significant episodic memory deficits are often...
Frontiers in Neurology
September 1, 2026
Huan Yin, Xiaohong Guo, Yujun Gao et al.
Objective Dysfunction of the default mode network (DMN) is strongly linked to pain processing, as well as onset and progression of chronic pain disorders; however, its specific role in the pathogenesis of tension-type headache (TTH) remains incompletely understood. This study aims to explore the network homogeneity (NH) of the DMN in the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying TTH. Methods...
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
August 28, 2026
Min Jinseong
High-functioning Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD) presents a unique neuro-psychiatric paradox:individuals demonstrate exceptional external performance, high intellectual bandwidth, and cross-domain analyticalcapacities alongside chronic hyper-arousal and affective numbing. A central physiological driver of this condition is thestructural dysfunction of the Default Mode Network...
PsyArXiv
August 22, 2026
preprint
Default Mode Network Distinguishes Self from Other During Counterfactual Language Comprehension: Evidence from Multivariate EEG Decoding and LLMs
bioRxiv
August 19, 2026
preprint
Differential upregulation of metabolic demands and functional integration of the default mode network during stress
Asploro Journal of Biomedical and Clinical Case Reports
August 18, 2026
Hiroshi Bando, Akiyo Yoshioka, Yu Nishikiori et al.
The default mode network (DMN) plays a crucial role in sensory perception. The primary roles of the DMN include preparing for crises, predicting future events, and organizing information and memories. It comprises brain regions such as the medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, precuneus, and inferior parietal lobule. For the five senses, including visual, auditory, olfactory,...
Scientific Reports
August 15, 2026
Morio Aki, Naoya Oishi, Sayaka Yoshimura et al.
Increasing multiculturalism and globalization have increased the discrepancies between socially-shared norms and personal values. This study examined whether the association between Cultural Estrangement (CE) and resting-state functional connectivity (FC) of the default mode network (DMN) is moderated by self-esteem (SE). In total, 170 healthy Japanese adults (20–70 years) were recruited, 70 of...
PsyArXiv
August 8, 2026
preprint
Oscillation Dynamics and Default Mode Network Coupling: A Framework for Linguistic Semantic Diversity
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
August 7, 2026
Parviz Khataee
The Default Mode Network (DMN) has been characterized since its formal description in 2001 as a resting-state network subserving autobiographical memory, social cognition, and prospective thinking. This paper challenges the foundational interpretive assumption of that characterization: that adult human DMN activity constitutes a normal or optimal cognitive baseline. We propose that the DMN, as...
Research Square
August 7, 2026
preprint
Default Mode Network Connectivity Is Associated with Capture by a Distractor Dimension Carrying Learned Spatial Regularity
Neuron
May 10, 2023
Vinod Menon
832 citations
The discovery of the default mode network (DMN) has revolutionized our understanding of the workings of the human brain. Here, I review developments that led to the discovery of the DMN, offer a personal reflection, and consider how our ideas of DMN function have evolved over the past two decades. I summarize literature examining the role of the DMN in self-reference, social cognition, episodic...
Nature reviews. Neuroscience
July 5, 2021
Jonathan Smallwood, Boris C. Bernhardt, Robert Leech et al.
970 citations
The default mode network (DMN) is a set of widely distributed brain regions in the parietal, temporal and frontal cortex. These regions often show reductions in activity during attention-demanding tasks but increase their activity across multiple forms of complex cognition, many of which are linked to memory or abstract thought. Within the cortex, the DMN has been shown to be located in regions...
Annual Review of Neuroscience
May 4, 2015
Marcus E. Raichle
4,082 citations
The brain's default mode network consists of discrete, bilateral and symmetrical cortical areas, in the medial and lateral parietal, medial prefrontal, and medial and lateral temporal cortices of the human, nonhuman primate, cat, and rodent brains. Its discovery was an unexpected consequence of brain-imaging studies first performed with positron emission tomography in which various novel,...
Neuroimage
May 24, 2014
Nia Goulden, Aygul Khusnulina, Nicholas J. Davis et al.
828 citations
With the advent of new analysis methods in neuroimaging that involve independent component analysis (ICA) and dynamic causal modelling (DCM), investigations have focused on measuring both the activity and connectivity of specific brain networks. In this study we combined DCM with spatial ICA to investigate network switching in the brain. Using time courses determined by ICA in our dynamic...
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
2014
Robin Carhart-Harris, Robert Leech, Peter J. Hellyer et al.
1,289 citations
Entropy is a dimensionless quantity that is used for measuring uncertainty about the state of a system but it can also imply physical qualities, where high entropy is synonymous with high disorder. Entropy is applied here in the context of states of consciousness and their associated neurodynamics, with a particular focus on the psychedelic state. The psychedelic state is considered an exemplar...
Annual Review of Clinical Psychology
March 29, 2012
Susan Whitfield-Gabrieli, Judith M. Ford
1,485 citations
Neuropsychiatric disorders are associated with abnormal function of the default mode network (DMN), a distributed network of brain regions more active during rest than during performance of many attention-demanding tasks and characterized by a high degree of functional connectivity (i.e., temporal correlations between brain regions). Functional magnetic resonance imaging studies have revealed...
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
January 23, 2012
Alessandro Colasanti, Robin J. Tyacke, Robert Leech et al.
1,191 citations
Psychedelic drugs have a long history of use in healing ceremonies, but despite renewed interest in their therapeutic potential, we continue to know very little about how they work in the brain. Here we used psilocybin, a classic psychedelic found in magic mushrooms, and a task-free functional MRI (fMRI) protocol designed to capture the transition from normal waking consciousness to the...
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
2012
Rogier B. Mars, Franz-Xaver Neubert, MaryAnn P. Noonan et al.
807 citations
The default mode network (DMN) of the brain consists of areas that are typically more active during rest than during active task performance. Recently however, this network has been shown to be activated by certain types of tasks. Social cognition, particularly higher-order tasks such as attributing mental states to others, has been suggested to activate a network of areas at least partly...
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
November 23, 2011
Judson A. Brewer, Patrick D. Worhunsky, Jeremy R. Gray et al.
1,410 citations
Many philosophical and contemplative traditions teach that "living in the moment" increases happiness. However, the default mode of humans appears to be that of mind-wandering, which correlates with unhappiness, and with activation in a network of brain areas associated with self-referential processing. We investigated brain activity in experienced meditators and matched meditation-naive...
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
July 6, 2009
R. Nathan Spreng, Cheryl L. Grady
1,023 citations
The ability to rise above the present environment and reflect upon the past, the future, and the minds of others is a fundamentally defining human feature. It has been proposed that these three self-referential processes involve a highly interconnected core set of brain structures known as the default mode network (DMN). The DMN appears to be active when individuals are engaged in...
Neuroimage
June 13, 2008
Peter Fransson, Guillaume Marrelec
1,236 citations
Recent research has shown that intrinsic brain activity as observed by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) manifest itself as coherent signal changes in networks encompassing brain regions that span long-range neuronal pathways. One of these networks, the so called default mode network, has become the primary target in recent investigations to link intrinsic activity to cognition and...
Cerebral Cortex
April 9, 2008
Michael D. Greicius, Kaustubh Supekar, V. Menon et al.
2,227 citations
Resting-state functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging (fcMRI) studies constitute a growing proportion of functional brain imaging publications. This approach detects temporal correlations in spontaneous blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal oscillations while subjects rest quietly in the scanner. Although distinct resting-state networks related to vision, language, executive...
Human Brain Mapping
January 24, 2008
Lucina Q. Uddin, A.M. Clare Kelly, Bharat B. Biswal et al.
1,198 citations
The default mode network (DMN), based in ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), exhibits higher metabolic activity at rest than during performance of externally oriented cognitive tasks. Recent studies have suggested that competitive relationships between the DMN and various task-positive networks involved in task performance are intrinsically represented...
Neuroreport
November 7, 2005
Sara W. Lazar, Catherine E. Kerr, Rachel H. Wasserman et al.
1,707 citations
Previous research indicates that long-term meditation practice is associated with altered resting electroencephalogram patterns, suggestive of long lasting changes in brain activity. We hypothesized that meditation practice might also be associated with changes in the brain's physical structure. Magnetic resonance imaging was used to assess cortical thickness in 20 participants with extensive...