What we talk about when we talk about the default mode network

Summary & key facts

The default mode network (DMN) is a set of brain regions that become active when people are at rest and not doing a task. This Perspective reviews how the DMN emerged as a scientific idea in the early twenty-first century and became a major focus of research within about a decade. The authors describe debates over how to define, where to locate, and what the DMN does, and they note the network has helped bring together different fields. They say a key challenge (in 2014) is to understand how the mechanisms of thought relate to brain dynamics, and that the DMN may not stay central as that work moves forward.

Key facts:

• The DMN is commonly defined as brain regions engaged when people are in a “resting state” — for example, left alone in an MRI scanner with no explicit task instruction.
• The DMN emerged as a scientific object in the early twenty-first century and became a strong focus of empirical and conceptual neuroscience research within just over a decade.
• This article is a Perspective offering reflections on the birth, working life, and possible future of the DMN.
• The authors identify ongoing controversies about the DMN’s definition, its function, and its precise localization in the brain.
• The paper states that, as of 2014, a pressing issue is to understand how the mechanisms of thought are related to the function of brain dynamics.
• The authors note that while the DMN has been central to progress so far, it is not certain that the DMN will remain at the heart of future research on thought and brain dynamics.

Abstract

The default mode network (DMN) has been widely defined as a set of brain regions that are engaged when people are in a "resting state" (left to themselves in a scanner, with no explicit task instruction). The network emerged as a scientific object in the early twenty-first century, and in just over a decade has become the focus of intense empirical and conceptual neuroscientific inquiry. In this Perspective, we contribute to the work of critical neuroscience by providing brief reflections on the birth, working life, and future of the DMN. We consider: how the DMN emerged through the convergence of distinct lines of scientific investigation; controversies surrounding the definition, function and localization of the DMN; and the lines of interdisciplinary investigation that the DMN has helped to enable. We conclude by arguing that one of the most pressing issues in the field in 2014 is to understand how the mechanisms of thought are related to the function of brain dynamics. While the DMN has been central in allowing the field to reach this point, it is not inevitable that the DMN itself will remain at the heart of future investigations of this complex problem.

Topics

Electroconvulsive Therapy Studies Functional Brain Connectivity Studies Mental Health Research Topics

Categories

Cognitive Neuroscience Life Sciences Neuroscience

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Business Computer science Default Default mode network Finance Functional connectivity Human–computer interaction Mode (computer interface) Neuroscience Psychology