The brain's default mode network
Marcus Raichle reviews the default mode network. It consists of discrete, bilateral and symmetrical cortical areas in the medial and lateral parietal, medial prefrontal, and medial and lateral temporal cortices of the human, nonhuman primate, cat and rodent brains. Its discovery was an unexpected consequence of early PET studies that compared novel, attention-demanding, non-self-referential tasks with quiet repose, with eyes closed or on a simple fixation point. The network consistently decreases its activity relative to those relaxed non-task states. The discovery reignited interest in the brain's ongoing, intrinsic activity, and resting-state studies, which have come to play a major role in research on the brain in health and disease, treat the default mode network as central. This page cites the review for the history of the discovery and for the place of the network in resting-state research.
Marcus Raichle reviews the default mode network. It consists of discrete, bilateral and symmetrical cortical areas in the medial and lateral parietal, medial prefrontal, and medial and lateral temporal cortices of the human, nonhuman primate, cat and rodent brains. Its discovery was an unexpected consequence of early PET studies that compared novel, attention-demanding, non-self-referential tasks with quiet repose, with eyes closed or on a simple fixation point. The network consistently decreases its activity relative to those relaxed non-task states. The discovery reignited interest in the brain's ongoing, intrinsic activity, and resting-state studies, which have come to play a major role in research on the brain in health and disease, treat the default mode network as central. This page cites the review for the history of the discovery and for the place of the network in resting-state research.
Written from the abstract on Crossref, read 2026-10-23.
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Raichle, M. E. (2015). The brain's default mode network. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 38, 433-447. doi:10.1146/annurev-neuro-071013-014030