Description

The default mode network is a collection of seemingly unrelated areas of the brain that activate when you’re not doing much at all. Its discovery has offered insights into how the brain functions outside of well-defined tasks and has also prompted research into the role of brain networks in managing our internal experience. During rest, when we turn mentally inward, task-negative areas use more energy than the rest of the brain. This activity defines a coherent network of interacting brain regions, which researchers have dubbed the default mode network. The discovery has ignited curiosity among neuroscientists about what the brain is doing in the absence of an outward-focused task and how it relates to mental health disorders such as depression and schizophrenia.