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Default mode network

A brain network linked to self-referential thought whose modulation is associated with psychedelic and meditative states.

State of the evidence

Synthesized

Synthesized from 25 studies in the library · AI-generated, grounded in the abstracts below

Found by searching the library for Default mode network, DMN, resting-state network, then ranked by relevance.

The default mode network (DMN) is a set of brain regions active during rest and self-referential thought, and its activity and connectivity are altered in meditation, psychedelic states, and psychopathology. Research consistently shows that meditation is associated with reduced DMN activity and altered connectivity, while psychedelics like psilocybin decrease DMN activity and disrupt its hierarchical processing. A key caveat is that many studies have small sample sizes and the durability of these effects is not well established.

Evidence by study

Direction is which way each study's own result points, not our rating of the study.

What the directions mean
Supports:
the study found the intervention worked, or its hypothesis held.
Opposes:
it found the opposite, no benefit or a harm.
No effect:
no significant difference either way.
Mixed:
effects in both directions within the same study.
Unclear:
the abstract does not report a direction.
The Brain's Default Mode Network 2015
Unclear

Describes the DMN as a set of brain regions that decrease activity during attention-demanding tasks and are central to resting-state studies.

review

Resting-State Functional Connectivity Reflects Structural Connectivity in the Default Mode Network 2008
Supports

Resting-state functional connectivity within the DMN reflects structural connectivity as measured by DTI tractography.

observational

Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness 2005
Supports

Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness in regions including prefrontal cortex, but does not directly measure DMN.

observational Sample size: 20

Default Mode Network Activity and Connectivity in Psychopathology 2012
Supports

DMN is hyperactivated and hyperconnected in schizophrenia and depression, relating to self-reference and rumination.

review

Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity 2011
Supports

Experienced meditators show deactivation of DMN nodes and stronger functional connectivity between posterior cingulate and cognitive control regions.

observational

The entropic brain: a theory of conscious states informed by neuroimaging research with psychedelic drugs 2014
Unclear

Proposes that the psychedelic state is characterized by elevated entropy in brain function, with the DMN playing a role in normal waking consciousness.

theoretical

The precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex plays a pivotal role in the default mode network: Evidence from a partial correlation network analysis 2008
Supports

The precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex plays a pivotal role in the DMN, with strong interactions with other DMN regions.

observational

Functional connectivity of default mode network components: Correlation, anticorrelation, and causality 2008
Supports

DMN components (vmPFC and PCC) have distinct anticorrelated networks, with vmPFC negatively predicting activity in attention networks and PCC in motor control circuits.

observational

Neural correlates of the psychedelic state as determined by fMRI studies with psilocybin 2012
Supports

Psilocybin decreases cerebral blood flow and BOLD signal in hub regions including the PCC and mPFC, and reduces positive coupling between mPFC and PCC.

observational Sample size: 30

Patterns of Brain Activity Supporting Autobiographical Memory, Prospection, and Theory of Mind, and Their Relationship to the Default Mode Network 2009
Supports

Autobiographical memory, prospection, and theory of mind engage a common pattern of activation in the DMN.

observational

The salience network is responsible for switching between the default mode network and the central executive network: Replication from DCM 2014
Supports

The salience network drives switching between the DMN and the central executive network, confirmed with dynamic causal modelling.

observational

On the relationship between the “default mode network” and the “social brain” 2012
Supports

Social cognition tasks activate a network that overlaps with the DMN.

review

Fractionating the Default Mode Network: Distinct Contributions of the Ventral and Dorsal Posterior Cingulate Cortex to Cognitive Control 2011
Supports

Ventral and dorsal PCC show opposite patterns of DMN integration and anticorrelation with the cognitive control network as task difficulty increases.

observational

Decoupling of the brain's default mode network during deep sleep 2009
Supports

Deep sleep reduces correlation between DMN components, particularly involving frontal cortex, suggesting DMN supports conscious awareness.

observational

Dynamic reconfiguration of the default mode network during narrative comprehension 2016
Supports

DMN dynamically reconfigures during narrative comprehension, with coupling strength predicting memory of narrative segments.

observational

Neural Correlates of Cognitive Alterations and Minor and Structured Hallucinations in Parkinson's Disease 2026
Supports

A distributed FC pattern involving DMN is more strongly expressed in patients with hallucinations and associated with attention-executive alterations.

observational Sample size: 53

Nondual mindfulness meditation alters self representation and brain connectome in expert meditators 2026
Supports

Open Presence meditation in experts is associated with reduced global network eccentricity, indicating altered large-scale brain organization.

observational Sample size: 75

Multilayer brain network analysis in mice reveals ketamine-induced reorganization of brain- wide fluctuations and gut-brain axis 2026
Supports

Ketamine reverses social avoidance and induces reorganization of multilayer network topology, with region-specific nodal changes.

observational

Distinct brain responses to psilocybin and escitalopram in depression captured by the Fluctuation-Dissipation Theorem 2026
Supports

Psilocybin and escitalopram show opposite reconfigurations of hierarchical non-equilibrium brain dynamics, with baseline measures distinguishing responders.

RCT

Psychedelics disrupt hierarchical cortical propagations in the default mode network of humans and mice. 2026
Supports

Psychedelics (MDMA, psilocybin, LSD) attenuate bottom-up signal flow within the DMN across multiple datasets.

observational

Hierarchical systems in the default mode network when reasoning about self and other mental states. 2026
Supports

A functional hierarchy in the DMN supports agent-specific and agent-general mental state reasoning.

observational

EEG microstate dynamics during psilocybin intoxication relate to acute experience and persisting psychological changes 2026
Supports

Psilocybin increases EEG microstate transitions and reduces microstate lifespan during peak intoxication, correlating with subjective experience.

RCT Sample size: 15

The neurobiological basis of the awe experience in affective disorders: an exploratory EEG study 2026
Supports

Awe experiences modulate alpha and theta band activity, with involvement of DMN and fronto-temporal circuits.

observational

The Pupil‐Brain System at Rest: Spontaneous Pupil Fluctuations as Markers of Neuromodulatory and Network Dynamics 2026
Unclear

Spontaneous pupil fluctuations are coupled with DMN, salience, and sensorimotor networks, linking neuromodulation to large-scale dynamics.

review

The Harmonious Dance: A Narrative Review on Psychedelics and Music in Therapeutic Settings. 2026
Supports

Psychedelics downregulate the DMN, and music amplifies emotional effects, facilitating therapeutic breakthroughs.

review

Points of agreement

  • The DMN is consistently described as a set of brain regions active during rest and self-referential thought, with key nodes including medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, and medial temporal lobes.
  • Meditation is associated with reduced DMN activity and altered connectivity, particularly involving the posterior cingulate and prefrontal regions.
  • Psychedelics like psilocybin decrease DMN activity and disrupt its hierarchical processing, with effects on connectivity and network dynamics.
  • DMN abnormalities are linked to psychopathology, including hyperactivity in depression and schizophrenia.

Conflicts

  • Some studies emphasize DMN deactivation during tasks, while others show DMN activation during social cognition and self-referential tasks.
  • The role of the PCC is fractionated, with ventral and dorsal parts showing opposite patterns of integration with DMN and cognitive control networks.

Gaps

  • Durability of DMN changes after meditation or psychedelic interventions is not well studied.
  • Sample sizes are often small, limiting generalizability.
  • Blinding and placebo control are challenging in psychedelic studies.
  • Direct comparisons between different meditation styles or psychedelic compounds on DMN are lacking.
  • Longitudinal studies linking DMN changes to clinical outcomes are needed.
Browse these studies in the library
How we analyze this

This synthesis reads the 15 most-cited and 10 most recent studies whose primary subject is Default mode network, up to 25 in all. The most-cited set anchors the established evidence, and the recent set surfaces work that is too new to have gathered citations yet.

A study qualifies only when Default mode network or a known alias appears in its title or keywords, so broad reviews that mention it only in passing are left out. Each study is read from its abstract, strongest evidence first, and the summary reports the direction of the results along with any conflicts and gaps.

Ask your own question in the Research Synthesis Tool

Latest monthly recap: June 2026 →

972 articles · 368 from the last two years · 84,369 participants across 372 studies reporting sample size

Common study designs

review 130 observational study 63 observational cohort 240 randomized controlled trial 53 theoretical or philosophical paper 122

Research

Synthesize the evidence → Search all →

The Brain as a Low-Resistance Pathway Network: A Cross-Domain Evidence Synthesis from White Matter Microstructure, Sleep Deprivation, and Default Mode Network Metabolism

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) July 20, 2026 Menggang Yu

The brain's lifelong decline in white matter integrity, the cognitive impairments caused by sleep deprivation, and the high energy use of the default mode network can be understood as a single physical process: the brain is a network of low-resistance pathways formed by charge flow, and memory is those pathways themselves. Analysis of UK Biobank data (N=21,236) shows white matter hyperintensity volume independently predicts cognitive decline beyond gray matter atrophy. Sleep deprivation impairs cognitive domains in proportion to their reliance on long-range brain integration, with sustained vigilance most affected (g=−0.776) and reasoning spared (g=−0.125, n.s.). Default mode network connectivity strength independently predicts local glucose metabolism (r=0.62), suggesting its high energy use reflects physical pathway maintenance rather than thought.

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.21451423 (opens in new tab) Default mode network White matter Cognition Hyperintensity +14

Source-level α periodic power in visual and default mode networks predicts topiramate treatment response in migraine

The Journal of Headache and Pain July 17, 2026 Siyuan Xie, Chenghui Pi, Kang Jin et al.

Periodic alpha-band brain activity, measured with electroencephalography (EEG) before treatment, predicts how well patients with episodic migraine without aura will respond to the preventive drug topiramate. Higher alpha power in specific brain regions—the cuneus, pericalcarine cortex, medial orbitofrontal cortex, frontal pole, and precuneus—indicates a poorer clinical response. A predictive model using these features achieved an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.859 in identifying treatment responders. The visual network and default mode network together explained 26.1% of the variance in headache improvement. These findings suggest that baseline alpha activity is a strong neurobiological marker for personalizing migraine preventive therapy.

DOI: 10.1186/s10194-026-02461-5 (opens in new tab) Default mode network Topiramate Electroencephalography Receiver operating characteristic +13

JAK-STAT pathway inhibition modulates centrally sensitised default mode network hubs in rheumatoid arthritis pain

medRxiv July 14, 2026 Kristian Stefanov, Joel T. Parkinson, Flavia Sunzini et al.

Peripheral inflammation can promote nociplastic pain by sensitizing the central nervous system. In rheumatoid arthritis, JAK-STAT pathway inhibitors shifted inferior parietal lobule–insula connectivity toward a normal pattern, an effect not seen with placebo or anti-TNF therapy. Transcranial magnetic stimulation of the default mode network altered its connectivity and reduced a marker of immune activation, suggesting a bi-directional brain–immune circuit. These findings provide the first human experimental evidence that peripheral JAK-STAT pathways contribute to nociplastic pain in immune-mediated inflammatory diseases.

DOI: 10.64898/2026.07.12.26356929 (opens in new tab) Full text (opens in new tab) Default mode network Transcranial magnetic stimulation Rheumatoid arthritis Peripheral +9

Neural Information Systems Theory: First-Order Thalamic Downsampling Instability and Second-Order Default Mode Network Integration Cascading Failure Hypothesis

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) July 12, 2026 Yue Lu

The brain is modeled as a multi-tier cybernetic defense system that manages sensory data. The thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN) acts as a hardware filter to reduce sensory noise, while the default mode network's posterior cingulate and precuneus serve as a higher-order software compressor driven by memory. The paper hypothesizes that early Alzheimer's disease involves TRN inhibitory interneuron loss, causing signal aliasing that overloads the cortex. Analyzing EEG data from the OpenNeuro dataset under 5Hz photic stimulation, a non-linear upward mutation in instantaneous entropy was observed at the 4th second in the Alzheimer's group, indicating a cascading failure from clock skew and phase mismatch.

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.21317081 (opens in new tab) Default mode network Thalamic reticular nucleus Posterior cingulate Precuneus +8

Dopamine Compensates for Amyloid-Induced Default Mode Network Dysfunction to Support Learning

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) July 10, 2026 Joseph Giorgio, Thomas Morin, Hsiang-Yu Chen et al.

In cognitively normal older adults, β-amyloid (Aβ) buildup in the default mode network impairs learning independently of tau, but higher dopamine synthesis capacity in the dorsolateral striatum can recover that learning performance. Aβ-positive individuals show reduced default mode network activity in response to error feedback, which relates to poorer learning. Computational modeling indicates that Aβ disinhibits the default mode network during error processing, and dopamine synthesis capacity in the dorsolateral striatum rebalances effective connectivity between the default mode network and frontostriatal network, counteracting Aβ-related disruption. These findings suggest that dopaminergic function can partially compensate for Aβ-related learning deficits through network rebalancing, offering a candidate mechanism for cognitive resilience in preclinical Alzheimer's disease.

DOI: 10.64898/2026.07.07.736872 (opens in new tab) Default mode network Dopaminergic Cognition Striatum +5

Default Mode Network Connectivity and Nocebo Responses in Migraine: A Functional MRI Study

Research Square July 7, 2026

The nocebo effect, where negative expectations lead to adverse outcomes, is linked to altered connectivity in the default mode network (DMN) in people with migraine. In a functional MRI study, individuals with migraine who exhibited stronger nocebo responses showed distinct patterns of DMN connectivity compared to those with weaker responses. The findings suggest that DMN connectivity may play a role in modulating nocebo responses in migraine, pointing to a neural mechanism underlying this phenomenon.

DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-10179882/v1 (opens in new tab)

The Default Mode Network and Emotional Processing: A Narrative Review of Lesion and Neuroimaging Studies

Preprints.org July 2, 2026 preprint

The default mode network (DMN) is a set of brain regions active during rest and self-referential thought, and its role in emotional processing is examined through a narrative review of lesion and neuroimaging studies. The review suggests that the DMN contributes to emotional regulation and the integration of emotional experiences with autobiographical memory. Lesion studies indicate that damage to DMN regions can impair emotional processing, while neuroimaging studies show altered DMN activity in mood disorders. The authors argue that the DMN's connectivity with other networks is crucial for adaptive emotional functioning.

DOI: 10.20944/preprints202607.0140.v1 (opens in new tab)

The DMN between Imagination, Creativity and Musement: a new path for neurosemiotics

Linguistic Frontiers July 1, 2026 Luigi Lobaccaro

The Default Mode Network (DMN) is reshaping cognitive neuroscience and offers insights into the relationship between the humanities and natural sciences. This article examines how DMN research can inform a neurosemiotic approach, building on Duarte's proposal to associate DMN activity with Peirce's concept of musement. Through analysis of Peirce's writings and neuroscientific literature, the article demonstrates that musement and the DMN can only be linked indirectly, and the DMN plays a non-specific role in creative production. It further suggests the DMN is tied to a more fundamental semiotic process essential to everyday semiosis: imagination.

DOI: 10.5507/lf2026-9-1-687 (opens in new tab)

Astrocytic Calcium and Default Mode Network Dysfunction in Early Stage AD

Alzheimer's Disease - Diagnostics, Pathogenesis, and Treatment [Working Title] July 1, 2026 Denis Larrivee

Evidence suggests that nonneuronal cells, particularly astrocytes, may be a primary site of pathogenesis in early Alzheimer's disease. Functional connectivity changes in the cingulate cortex, a hub of the default mode network, appear years before amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. Dysfunctional calcium signaling occurs in astrocytes but not neurons, paralleling these connectivity changes; restoring normal calcium reverses them. Astrocytes support bidirectional communication with neurons and coordinate network activity. Studying calcium signaling in default mode network astrocytes could yield insights into early Alzheimer's pathogenesis, integrating findings on connectivity disruption and calcium dysfunction to assess astrocyte influence.

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.1016224 (opens in new tab)

Default mode network hub disruption links problematic use of the Internet to brain network disorganization.

Comprehensive Psychiatry July 1, 2026 Nagara Takao, Naoya Oishi, Qi Dai et al.

Problematic use of the internet (PUI) is linked to altered brain network organization through its effect on the default mode network (DMN). In 190 healthy adults aged 20–69, higher PUI severity correlated with reduced functional connectivity among DMN regions. This reduced DMN connectivity strongly predicted changes in whole-brain network properties, including decreased clustering and local efficiency, and increased global efficiency and shorter path lengths—indicating a shift away from optimal small-world network organization. Mediation analyses showed that DMN connectivity substantially mediated the relationship between PUI severity and these network metrics, suggesting that DMN hub disruption is a key pathway by which PUI affects global brain network topology.

DOI: 10.1016/j.comppsych.2026.152725 (opens in new tab) Full text (opens in new tab) Default mode network Graph theory Mediation analysis Network hubs +1