Concept · Library
Concept · Neuroscience · 2000s to present
The default mode network and self-referential thought
Also known as mind wandering · my thoughts won't stop · spacing out · lost in thought · rumination · can't switch my brain off
What studies found, within the limits those studies state.
A set of brain regions that are more active when attention is not on a task, associated with thinking about oneself, recalling the past and imagining the future. Meditation research reports associations with its activity, and rumination research links it to depression. It is a statistical pattern in imaging data, not an entity, an ego, or a 'demon' to be silenced.
Entries in this library keep the tradition label and the editorial state the source gave them. A record marked as awaiting scholarly review is offered as a lead to study, not as settled teaching.