Wandering Minds: The Default Network and Stimulus-Independent Thought

Mason, Malia F.; Norton, Michael I.; Horn, John D. Van; Wegner, Daniel M.; Grafton, Scott T.; Macrae, C. Neil

doi:10.1126/science.1131295

Cited by 2,369 publications

(1,921 citation statements)

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“…In recent years, it has been shown that levels of DMN activation are linked to the frequency and depth of mind‐wandering (Christoff, Gordon, Smallwood, Smith, & Schooler, 2009; Mason et al., 2007; Scheibner et al., 2017; Smallwood & Schooler, 2015). Hereby, mind‐wandering was defined as any kind of cognition independent of the task at hand, involving processes like retrieval of autobiographic memory, future planning or evaluating and judging the present (Scheibner et al., 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Brain regions involved in this intrinsic network have been proposed to comprise regions of the so‐called default‐mode network (DMN) containing hubs in the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC)/precuneus, medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC)/ventral anterior cingulate cortex (vACC) and parietal regions. Cognitive processes driven by these regions involve self‐generated thought, autobiographical memory, mind‐wandering, and daydreaming (Lieberman, 2007; Mason et al., 2007; Scheibner, Bogler, Gleich, Haynes, & Bermpohl, 2017; Smallwood & Schooler, 2015). When these brain regions are active, the mind is therefore involved in internally directed thoughts and external tasks might be difficult to perform when initiated unexpectedly.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The prestimulus default mode network state predicts cognitive task performance levels on a mental rotation task

et al. 2018

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BackgroundLinking individual task performance to preceding, regional brain activation is an ongoing goal of neuroscientific research. Recently, it could be shown that the activation and connectivity within large‐scale brain networks prior to task onset influence performance levels. More specifically, prestimulus default mode network (DMN) effects have been linked to performance levels in sensory near‐threshold tasks, as well as cognitive tasks. However, it still remains uncertain how the DMN state preceding cognitive tasks affects performance levels when the period between task trials is long and flexible, allowing participants to engage in different cognitive states.MethodsWe here investigated whether the prestimulus activation and within‐network connectivity of the DMN are predictive of the correctness and speed of task performance levels on a cognitive (match‐to‐sample) mental rotation task, employing a sparse event‐related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) design.ResultsWe found that prestimulus activation in the DMN predicted the speed of correct trials, with a higher amplitude preceding correct fast response trials compared to correct slow response trials. Moreover, we found higher connectivity within the DMN before incorrect trials compared to correct trials.ConclusionThese results indicate that pre‐existing activation and connectivity states within the DMN influence task performance on cognitive tasks, both effecting the correctness and speed of task execution. The findings support existing theories and empirical work on relating mind‐wandering and cognitive task performance to the DMN and expand these by establishing a relationship between the prestimulus DMN state and the speed of cognitive task performance.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The prestimulus default mode network state predicts cognitive task performance levels on a mental rotation task

et al. 2018

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“…This is an intrinsically correlated network of brain regions that is regularly observed to deactivate during attentiondemanding cognitive tasks. Activation of this network has recently been linked to stimulus-independent thought, or in other words, mind-wandering (Mason et al, 2007). The presently observed negative correlation of frontal theta power with the DMN therefore suggests that frontal theta activity can be used as an index of DMN activity, at least in the resting state condition.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Frontal theta EEG activity correlates negatively with the default mode network in resting state

Scheeringa¹,

Bastiaansen²,

Petersson³

et al. 2008

International Journal of Psychophysiology

349

282

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We used simultaneously recorded EEG and fMRI to investigate in which areas the BOLD signal correlates with frontal theta power changes, while subjects were quietly lying resting in the scanner with their eyes open. To obtain a reliable estimate of frontal theta power we applied ICA on band-pass filtered (2-9 Hz) EEG data. For each subject we selected the component that best matched the mid-frontal scalp topography associated with the frontal theta rhythm. We applied a time-frequency analysis on this component and used the time course of the frequency bin with the highest overall power to form a regressor that modeled spontaneous fluctuations in frontal theta power. No significant positive BOLD correlations with this regressor were observed. Extensive negative correlations were observed in the areas that together form the default mode network. We conclude that frontal theta activity can be seen as an EEG index of default mode network activity.

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“…We have demonstrated [Fingelkurts & Fingelkurts, forthcoming] that these highly stable OMs constitute the set of cortical areas that has been named as the "Default Mode Network" (DMN) [480]. Nowadays researchers tend to associate this DMN either with the stimulus-independent thought, mind-wandering and the internal "narrative" [481,482] or with the "autobiographical" self [481,483], "chronic" self-evaluation [484] being a "self", or having self-consciousness [485][486][487]. Indeed, as we have discussed in Section 3, a subject that experiences phenomenal self-consciousness always feels directly present in the center of an externalized multimodal perceptual reality [72,367].…”

Section: Figure 9 Schematic Illustration Of Operational Modules (Omsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Natural world physical, brain operational, and mind phenomenal space–time

Fingelkurts

Neves

2010

Physics of Life Reviews

161

225

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Concepts of space and time are widely developed in physics. However, there is a considerable lack of biologically plausible theoretical frameworks that can demonstrate how space and time dimensions are implemented in the activity of the most complex life-system -the brain with a mind. Brain activity is organized both temporally and spatially, thus representing space-time in the brain. Critical analysis of recent research on the space-time organization of the brain's activity pointed to the existence of so-called operational space-time in the brain. This space-time is limited to the execution of brain operations of differing complexity. During each such brain operation a particular short-term spatio-temporal pattern of integrated activity of different brain areas emerges within related operational space-time. At the same time, to have a fully functional human brain one needs to have a subjective mental experience. Current research on the subjective mental experience offers detailed analysis of space-time organization of the mind. According to this research, subjective mental experience (subjective virtual world) has definitive spatial and temporal properties similar to many physical phenomena. Based on systematic review of the propositions and tenets of brain and mind space-time descriptions, our aim in this review essay is to explore the relations between the two. To be precise, we would like to discuss the hypothesis that via the brain operational space-time the mind subjective space-time is connected to otherwise distant physical space-time reality.Key words: spatial, temporal, consciousness, cognition, operation, architectonics, EEG, field, metastability, physics, coordinative dynamics, self-organization, cortex.

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Wandering Minds: The Default Network and Stimulus-Independent Thought

Cited by 2,369 publications

References 21 publications

The prestimulus default mode network state predicts cognitive task performance levels on a mental rotation task

The prestimulus default mode network state predicts cognitive task performance levels on a mental rotation task

Frontal theta EEG activity correlates negatively with the default mode network in resting state

Natural world physical, brain operational, and mind phenomenal space–time

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