Topic
Default mode research, explained
5 open-access default mode studies, each with a flashcard deck and a quiz.
- How is creative thinking wired in the resting brain?
Highly creative individuals show stronger spontaneous communication between brain networks responsible for focused control and daydreaming.
- How does the brain make decisions without sensory input?
The default mode network helps us make decisions using complex concepts retrieved from memory rather than what we see in front of us.
- Does brain stimulation's effect depend on what the brain is doing?
Brief electrical stimulation of the right frontal cortex changed activity and connectivity in distant brain networks, but the direction of change depended on whether people were doing a task or resting and on the current's polarity.
- Can brain activity during hard tasks predict general intelligence?
Brain activation patterns recorded while people did a demanding working-memory task predicted their general cognitive ability about twice as well as resting brain scans did.
- Which deep brain structures belong to the default mode network?
Resting-state brain scans showed that the default mode network reaches below the cortex into specific thalamic, brainstem and hypothalamic arousal nuclei, while parts of the basal ganglia fluctuate in the opposite direction.