Mind Wandering and DMN

DMN, in the context of mind-wandering, sounds like a ubiquitous 21st-century drug to the uninitiated. But, it is actually the main functional group that scientists have pointed to in explaining the phenomena of many functions humans experience, like reflection, day-dreaming, streams-of-consciousness, and what I want to focus on here is mind-wandering. Explaining why they believe it does so is pretty simple. A researcher decided to look at the fMRI scans of patients while they were not doing anything and discovered a pattern, which was then labeled the DMN (Default Mode Network).

Yeah, I thought I would have written more, but I don’t think I have more to say other than summaries.

• Intentional vs. Unintentional Wandering
  • Found that the DMN “wandering” can be both intentional or unintentional
• DMN Promotes Learning
  • Found that the “resting network” helps with learning as well
• The Science of Mind-Wandering
  • Comprehensive review of the topic (recommended if you want to read more)

Citations

Luo, W., Liu, B., Tang, Y., Huang, J., & Wu, J. (2024). Rest to Promote Learning: A Brain Default Mode Network Perspective. Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland), 14(4), 349. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs14040349

Seli, P., Risko, E.F., Smilek, D., & Schacter, D.L. (2016). Mind-Wandering With and Without Intention. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 20, 605-617.

Smallwood, J., & Schooler, J.W. (2015). The science of mind wandering: empirically navigating the stream of consciousness. Annual review of psychology, 66, 487-518 .