The default-mode network (DMN), is a neural network that is preferentially active when individuals are not focused on the external environment. The network includes the medial prefrontal cortex (PFC), ventral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), precuneus, posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and bilateral angular gyri (Buckner et al., 2008). The DMN is active when individuals are internally focused on tasks like autobiographical memory recall, imagining the future, rumination, or imaging the perspectives of others. This activity is in contrast to task orientated cognition where externally focused goal-directed tasks down-regulate DMN activation and recruit networks such as the dorsal attention network (DAN), frontoparietal (FPN) and salient network (SN) (Fornito et al., 2012; Cocchi et al., 2013; Liang et al., 2015).
Buckner R.L., Andrews-Hanna J.R., Schacter D.L. (2008). The brain’s default network: anatomy, function, and relevance to disease. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1124, 1–38.
Cocchi L., Zalesky A., Fornito A., Mattingley J.B. (2013). Dynamic cooperation and competition between brain systems during cognitive control. Trends in Cognitive Science 17(10), 493–501.
Fornito A., Harrison B.J., Zalesky A., Simons J.S. (2012). Competitive and cooperative dynamics of large-scale brain functional networks supporting recollection. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 109(31), 12788–93.
Liang X., Zou Q., He Y., Yang Y. (2015). Topologically reorganized connectivity architecture of default-mode, executive-control, and salience networks across working memory task loads. Cerebral Cortex 26, 1501–11.
