When your mind is wandering, your brain’s “default mode” network is active. Its discovery 20 years ago inspired a raft of research into networks of brain regions and how they interact with each other. New research, including a recent study of the brain on psilocybin, is revealing the default mode's role in memory, social awareness and sense of self.
Read the full article at Quanta Magazine: https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-your-brain-is-doing-when-youre-not-doing-anything-20240205/
Related Papers:
- "A default mode of brain function" (Raichle et al., 2001) https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.98.2.676
- "Functional connectivity in the resting brain: A network analysis of the default mode hypothesis" (Greicius et el., 2001) https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.0135058100
- "20 years of the default mode network: A review and synthesis" (Menon, 2023) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0896627323003082?via%3Dihub
- "Psilocybin desynchronizes the human brain" (Siegel et al. 2024) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0896627323003082?via%3Dihub
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Chapters:
00:00 What is the default mode network?
00:43 Hans Berger and the discovery of the network
02:36 Functional brain networks
03:24 The network's role in episodic, prospective, and semantic memory
04:14 Connection to self-awareness, social cognition, and theory of mind
04:39 Mind wandering and self-reflection
05:06 Interaction with other networks and brain dysfunction
06:24 What psilocybin reveals about the network
07:46 How the network creates a sense of self
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