Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40350145›Full record

ArticleNeuropsychologia2025

Reduced mind-wandering and fewer depressive symptoms associated with damage to the medial prefrontal cortex and default mode network.

Carissa L Philippi, Joel Bruss, Carrie Brandauer, Nicholas T Trapp, Daniel Tranel, Aaron D Boes

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Neuropsychologia, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Carissa L PhilippiDepartment of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri-St. Louis, 1 University Blvd., St. Louis, Missouri, 63121, USA. Electronic address: philippic@umsl.edu.
Joel BrussDepartment of Neurology, University of Iowa, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, Iowa, 52242, Iowa City, IA, USA; Department of Pediatrics, University of Iowa, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, Iowa, 52242, Iowa City, IA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa, 200 Hawkins Drive Iowa City, Iowa, 52242, Iowa City, IA, USA.
Carrie BrandauerDepartment of Neurology, University of Iowa, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, Iowa, 52242, Iowa City, IA, USA.
Nicholas T TrappDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Iowa, 200 Hawkins Drive Iowa City, Iowa, 52242, Iowa City, IA, USA.
Daniel TranelDepartment of Neurology, University of Iowa, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, Iowa, 52242, Iowa City, IA, USA.
Aaron D BoesDepartment of Neurology, University of Iowa, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, Iowa, 52242, Iowa City, IA, USA; Department of Pediatrics, University of Iowa, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, Iowa, 52242, Iowa City, IA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa, 200 Hawkins Drive Iowa City, Iowa, 52242, Iowa City, IA, USA. Electronic address: aaron-boes@uiowa.edu.

Funding

The Neurobiology of Social Decision-Making: Social Inference and ContextP50MH094258 · NIMH · CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY · PI ANDERSEN, RICHARD A · 2012 to 2021
$18.6M
Predicting Cognitive Outcomes from Stroke Based on Lesion LocationR01NS114405 · NINDS · UNIVERSITY OF IOWA · PI BOES, AARON D · 2020 to 2024
$2.1M
NIMH NIH HHS P50 MH094258NINDS NIH HHS R01 NS114405
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Depressive disorders have been consistently associated with elevated levels of mind-wandering and self-focused negative rumination. Separate tracks of research have implicated brain structures within the default mode network (DMN) in both mind-wandering and depression. In this study, we hypothesized that diminished mind-wandering and fewer depressive symptoms would co-occur in individuals with damage to the DMN. To test this hypothesis, we used a k-means clustering algorithm to identify a target group of patients with reduced mind-wandering and fewer depressive symptoms relative to brain-damaged comparison subjects (n = 37 of 68; ps < .001). The anatomical localization of lesions for this target group was predominantly within the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Structural and functional lesion network mapping results revealed that lesions of the target group had significantly greater connectivity with DMN and limbic regions. Taken together, these results suggest that brain injury affecting the mPFC and DMN is associated with both reduced mind-wandering and fewer depressive symptoms. Further investigation of neuroanatomical substrates that mediate a causal relationship between mind-wandering and mood may facilitate the identification of new therapeutic targets for neuromodulation in patients with disorders characterized by maladaptive mind-wandering, such as rumination.

Indexed as

Default Mode NetworkDepressionPrefrontal CortexAdultAgedBrain MappingFemaleHumansMagnetic Resonance ImagingMaleMiddle AgedDefault mode networkDepressionLesion network mappingMedial prefrontal cortexMind-wandering

Identifiers

PMID40350145
PMCPMC12138906

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Registered trials

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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.