The brain's default mode network -- a series of connected areas that work hardest when most of the brain is at rest -- is active during daydreaming and mind-wandering. Many scientists believe the default network has two major hubs, one in the posterior cingulate cortex with the precuneus and one in the medial prefrontal cortex (shown above).
“I think the default mode network is the most exciting thing that has happened in cognitive neuroscience in quite some time,” says Peter Fransson, a neuroscientist at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.
Default brain settings may lead to daydreaming and mind-wandering, but the network also conducts serious business. Neuroscientists still hotly debate the network’s exact functions, however. Among its jobs may be running life simulations, providing a sense of self and maintaining crucial connections between brain cells. A few researchers doubt the network is anything special at all.
But evidence suggests that a malfunctioning default network is involved in diseases and disorders as diverse as Alzheimer’s disease, autism, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, Tourette syndrome, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, schizophrenia and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
More at Science News.
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