The Role of Default Network Deactivation in Cognition and Disease.

Author: Anticevic A, Cole MW, Murray JD, Corlett PR, Wang XJ, Krystal JH.
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA; National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) Center for the Translational Neuroscience of Alcoholism (CTNA), Yale University, New Haven, CT 06519, USA; Abraham Ribicoff Research Facilities, Connecticut Mental Health Center, Department of Psychiatry, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06519, USA. Electronic address: alan.anticevic@yale.edu.
Conference/Journal: Trends Cogn Sci.
Date published: 2012 Nov 8
Other: Pages: S1364-6613(12)00244-6. , Special Notes: doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2012.10.008. , Word Count: 124



A considerable body of evidence has accumulated over recent years on the functions of the default-mode network (DMN) - a set of brain regions whose activity is high when the mind is not engaged in specific behavioral tasks and low during focused attention on the external environment. In this review, we focus on DMN suppression and its functional role in health and disease, summarizing evidence that spans several disciplines, including cognitive neuroscience, pharmacological neuroimaging, clinical neuroscience, and theoretical neuroscience. Collectively, this research highlights the functional relevance of DMN suppression for goal-directed cognition, possibly by reducing goal-irrelevant functions supported by the DMN (e.g., mind-wandering), and illustrates the functional significance of DMN suppression deficits in severe mental illness.
Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
PMID: 23142417

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