ArticleNature human behaviour2017
The default network and the combination of cognitive processes that mediate self-generated thought.
Article in Nature human behaviour, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
42 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The Relative Accuracy of Different Methods for Measuring Mind Wandering Subtypes: A Systematic Review.Brain and behavior · 2025Pooled it
- Common and distinct correlates of construction and elaboration of episodic-autobiographical memory: An ALE meta-analysis.Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior · 2023Pooled it
- Meta-analytic evidence that mindfulness training alters resting state default mode network connectivity.Scientific reports · 2022Pooled it
- Oxytocin Reduces Subjective Fear in Naturalistic Social Contexts via Enhancing Top-Down Middle Cingulate Amygdala Regulation and Brain-Wide Fear Representations.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Trial
- Spatial and temporal heterogeneity of neural responses in human posteromedial cortex.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2018Trial
- Connectivity patterns in the DMN that are impacted by traumatic stress.Research square · 2026Article
- Modulatory effects of ketamine on EEG source-based resting state connectivity in treatment resistant depression.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Unravelling the genetic and molecular basis of low-frequency rTMS induced changes in functional connectivity density in schizophrenia patients with auditory verbal hallucinations.Translational psychiatry · 2025Article
- Clinical response to neurofeedback in major depression relates to subtypes of whole-brain activation patterns during training.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Article
- Time Persistence of the FMRI Resting-State Functional Brain Networks.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025Article
- Biomarkers of Suicidal Ideation in Depression: Insights From VMHC Analysis and Machine Learning.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2025Article
- Default mode network activation at task switches reflects mental task-set structure.Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2025Article
- Resting-state BOLD temporal variability of the default mode network predicts spontaneous mind wandering, which is negatively associated with mindfulness skills.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2025Article
- Elucidating the difference between mind-wandering and day-dreaming terms.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- More than fear? Brain activation patterns of dental phobic patients before and after an exposure-based treatment.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2024Article
- The bodily self from psychosis to psychedelics.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Recent advances in the neuroscience of spontaneous and off-task thought: implications for mental health.Nature. Mental health · 2023Article
- Self-Relevance Predicts the Aesthetic Appeal of Real and Synthetic Artworks Generated via Neural Style Transfer.Psychological science · 2023Article
- A network-level test of the role of the co-activated default mode network in episodic recall and social cognition.Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior · 2023Article
- Abnormal voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity in first-episode major depressive disorder using fMRI: a machine learning approach.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Self-generated cognitions, such as recalling personal memories or empathizing with others, are ubiquitous and essential for our lives. Such internal mental processing is ascribed to the Default Mode Network, a large network of the human brain, though the underlying neural and cognitive mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here, we tested the hypothesis that our mental experience is mediated by a combination of activities of multiple cognitive processes. Our study included four functional MRI experiments with the same participants and a wide range of cognitive tasks, as well as an analytical approach that afforded the identification of cognitive processes during self-generated cognition. We showed that several cognitive processes functioned simultaneously during self-generated mental activity. The processes had specific and localized neural representations, suggesting that they support different aspects of internal processing. Overall, we demonstrate that internally directed experience may be achieved by pooling over multiple cognitive processes.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.