scholarly journals The Default Mode of Human Brain Function Primes the Intentional Stance

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 1116-1124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert P. Spunt ◽  
Meghan L. Meyer ◽  
Matthew D. Lieberman
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Brain Function ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Social World ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Social Stimulus ◽  
Intentional Stance ◽  
Default Mode ◽  
Human Tendency ◽  
The Mind

Humans readily adopt an intentional stance to other people, comprehending their behavior as guided by unobservable mental states such as belief, desire, and intention. We used fMRI in healthy adults to test the hypothesis that this stance is primed by the default mode of human brain function present when the mind is at rest. We report three findings that support this hypothesis. First, brain regions activated by actively adopting an intentional rather than nonintentional stance to a social stimulus were anatomically similar to those demonstrating default responses to fixation baseline in the same task. Second, moment-to-moment variation in default activity during fixation in the dorsomedial PFC was related to the ease with which participants applied an intentional—but not nonintentional—stance to a social stimulus presented moments later. Finally, individuals who showed stronger dorsomedial PFC activity at baseline in a separate task were generally more efficient when adopting the intentional stance and reported having greater social skills. These results identify a biological basis for the human tendency to adopt the intentional stance. More broadly, they suggest that the brain's default mode of function may have evolved, in part, as a response to life in a social world.

scholarly journals Activity in the brain’s valuation and mentalizing networks is associated with propagation of online recommendations

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisa C. Baek ◽  
Matthew Brook O’Donnell ◽  
Christin Scholz ◽  
Rui Pei ◽  
Javier O. Garcia ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Word Of Mouth ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Prior Work ◽  
Opinion Change ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Mentalizing System

AbstractWord of mouth recommendations influence a wide range of choices and behaviors. What takes place in the mind of recommendation receivers that determines whether they will be successfully influenced? Prior work suggests that brain systems implicated in assessing the value of stimuli (i.e., subjective valuation) and understanding others’ mental states (i.e., mentalizing) play key roles. The current study used neuroimaging and natural language classifiers to extend these findings in a naturalistic context and tested the extent to which the two systems work together or independently in responding to social influence. First, we show that in response to text-based social media recommendations, activity in both the brain’s valuation system and mentalizing system was associated with greater likelihood of opinion change. Second, participants were more likely to update their opinions in response to negative, compared to positive, recommendations, with activity in the mentalizing system scaling with the negativity of the recommendations. Third, decreased functional connectivity between valuation and mentalizing systems was associated with opinion change. Results highlight the role of brain regions involved in mentalizing and positive valuation in recommendation propagation, and further show that mentalizing may be particularly key in processing negative recommendations, whereas the valuation system is relevant in evaluating both positive and negative recommendations.

Why the Mind Wanders

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caitlin Mills ◽  
Arianne Herrera-Bennett ◽  
Myrthe Faber ◽  
Kalina Christoff
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Neuroscience ◽  
Mental Content ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Semantic Knowledge ◽  
Default Mode ◽  
Memory Efficiency ◽  
Random Fashion ◽  
Phenomenological Account ◽  
Episodic Memories ◽  
The Mind

This chapter offers a functional account of why the mind—when free from the demands of a task or the constraints of heightened emotions—tends to wander from one topic to another, in a ceaseless and seemingly random fashion. We propose the default variability hypothesis, which builds on William James’s phenomenological account of thought as a form of mental locomotion, as well as on recent advances in cognitive neuroscience and computational modeling. Specifically, the default variability hypothesis proposes that the default mode of mental content production yields the frequent arising of new mental states that have heightened variability of content over time. This heightened variability in the default mode of mental content production may be an adaptive mechanism that (1) enhances episodic memory efficiency through de-correlating individual episodic memories from one another via temporally spaced reactivations, and (2) facilitates semantic knowledge optimization by providing optimal conditions for interleaved learning.

scholarly journals Common variants contribute to intrinsic human brain functional networks

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bingxin Zhao ◽  
Tengfei Li ◽  
Stephen M. Smith ◽  
Di Xiong ◽  
Xifeng Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Genetic Variants ◽  
Brain Function ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Central Executive ◽  
Common Variants ◽  
Default Mode ◽  
Common Genetic Variants ◽  
Intrinsic Brain Activity

AbstractThe human brain remains active in the absence of explicit tasks and forms networks of correlated activity. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) measures brain activity at rest, which has been linked with both cognitive and clinical outcomes. The genetic variants influencing human brain function are largely unknown. Here we utilized rsfMRI from 44,190 individuals of multiple ancestries (37,339 in the UK Biobank) to discover and validate the common genetic variants influencing intrinsic brain activity. We identified hundreds of novel genetic loci associated with intrinsic functional signatures (P < 2.8 × 10−11), including associations to the central executive, default mode, and salience networks involved in the triple network model of psychopathology. A number of intrinsic brain activity associated loci colocalized with brain disorder GWAS (e.g., Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia) and cognition, such as 19q13.32, 17q21.31, and 2p16.1. Particularly, we detected a colocalization between one (rs429358) of the two variants in the APOE ε4 locus and function of the default mode, central executive, attention, and visual networks. Genetic correlation analysis demonstrated shared genetic influences between brain function and brain structure in the same regions. We also detected significant genetic correlations with 26 other complex traits, such as ADHD, major depressive disorder, schizophrenia, intelligence, education, sleep, subjective well-being, and neuroticism. Common variants associated with intrinsic brain activity were enriched within regulatory element in brain tissues.

scholarly journals Common Brain Regions with Distinct Patterns of Neural Responses during Mentalizing about Groups and Individuals

2013 ◽  
Vol 25 (9) ◽  
pp. 1406-1417 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Manuel Contreras ◽  
Jessica Schirmer ◽  
Mahzarin R. Banaji ◽  
Jason P. Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognition ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Physical Attributes ◽  
Medial Pfc ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Brain

An individual has a mind; a group does not. Yet humans routinely endow groups with mental states irreducible to any of their members (e.g., “scientists hope to understand every aspect of nature”). But are these mental states categorically similar to those we attribute to individuals? In two fMRI experiments, we tested this question against a set of brain regions that are consistently associated with social cognition—medial pFC, anterior temporal lobe, TPJ, and medial parietal cortex. Participants alternately answered questions about the mental states and physical attributes of individual people and groups. Regions previously associated with mentalizing about individuals were also robustly responsive to judgments of groups, suggesting that perceivers deploy the same social-cognitive processes when thinking about the mind of an individual and the “mind” of a group. However, multivariate searchlight analysis revealed that several of these regions showed distinct multivoxel patterns of response to groups and individual people, suggesting that perceivers maintain distinct representations of groups and individuals during mental state inferences. These findings suggest that perceivers mentalize about groups in a manner qualitatively similar to mentalizing about individual people, but that the brain nevertheless maintains important distinctions between the representations of such entities.

States of Mind: Characterizing the Neural Bases of Focus and Mind-wandering through Dynamic Functional Connectivity

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 495-506 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin W. Mooneyham ◽  
Michael D. Mrazek ◽  
Alissa J. Mrazek ◽  
Kaita L. Mrazek ◽  
Dawa T. Phillips ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Mind Wandering ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Focused Attention ◽  
Supporting Evidence ◽  
Dispositional Mindfulness ◽  
Dynamic Functional Connectivity ◽  
Brain States ◽  
The Mind

During tasks that require continuous engagement, the mind alternates between mental states of focused attention and mind-wandering. Existing research has assessed the functional connectivity of intrinsic brain networks underlying the experience and training of these mental states using “static” approaches that assess connectivity across an entire task. To disentangle the different functional connectivity between brain regions that occur as the mind fluctuates between discrete brain states, we employed a dynamic functional connectivity approach that characterized brain activity using a sliding window. This approach identified distinct states of functional connectivity between regions of the executive control, salience, and default networks during a task requiring sustained attention to the sensations of breathing. The frequency of these distinct brain states demonstrated opposing correlations with dispositional mindfulness, suggesting a correspondence to the mental states of focused attention and mind-wandering. We then determined that an intervention emphasizing the cultivation of mindfulness increased the frequency of the state that had been associated with a greater propensity for focused attention, especially for those who improved most in dispositional mindfulness. These findings provide supporting evidence that mind-wandering involves the corecruitment of brain regions within the executive and default networks. More generally, this work illustrates how emerging neuroimaging methods may allow for the characterization of discrete brain states based on patterns of functional connectivity even when external indications of these states are difficult or impossible to measure.

scholarly journals No metabolic “default mode” of human brain function

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars S Jonasson ◽  
Filip Grill ◽  
Andreas Hahn ◽  
Lucas Rischka ◽  
Rupert Lanzenberger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Human Brain ◽  
Brain Function ◽  
Synaptic Activity ◽  
Bold Signal ◽  
Functional Heterogeneity ◽  
Hybrid Functional ◽  
Default Mode ◽  
Reduced Activity ◽  
And Task

AbstractThe finding of reduced activity in the default mode network (DMN) during externally focused cognitive control has been highly influential to our understanding of human brain function, but ‘deactivations’ have also prompted major questions of interpretation. Using hybrid functional PET-MR imaging, this study shows that fMRI task activations and deactivations do not reflect antagonistic patterns of synaptic metabolism. FMRI activations were accompanied by concomitant increases in metabolism during cognitive control, but, unlike the BOLD response, metabolism in the core DMN did not change between rest and task. Metabolic increases along the borders of the DMN during task performance further revealed a set of regions that guide engagement and suppression of neighboring networks during cognitive control. Collectively, dissociations between metabolism and BOLD signal specific to the DMN reveal functional heterogeneity in this network and demonstrate that BOLD deactivations during cognitive control should not be interpreted to reflect reduced synaptic activity.

scholarly journals A Large-Scale Structural and Functional Connectome of Social Mentalizing

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yin Wang ◽  
Athanasia Metoki ◽  
Yunman Xia ◽  
Yinyin Zang ◽  
Yong He ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Default Mode Network ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Distributed Network ◽  
Social Brain ◽  
Default Mode ◽  
Fiber Tracts ◽  
Neuroimaging Data ◽  
Social Mentalizing ◽  
The Mind

AbstractHumans have a remarkable ability to infer the mind of others. This mentalizing skill relies on a distributed network of brain regions but how these regions connect and interact is not well understood. Here we leveraged large-scale multimodal neuroimaging data to elucidate the connectome-level organization and brain-wide mechanisms of mentalizing processing. Key features of the mentalizing connectome have been delineated in exquisite detail and its relationship with the default mode network has been extensively scrutinized. Our study demonstrates that mentalizing processing unfolds across functionally heterogeneous regions with highly structured fiber tracts and unique hierarchical functional architecture, which make it distinguishable from the default mode network and other social brain networks.

FC34.4 Temporal lobe interictal discharges affect resting state brain function in “default mode” brain regions

2006 ◽  
Vol 117 ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
H. Laufs ◽  
K. Hamandi ◽  
A. Salek-Haddadi ◽  
A. Kleinschmidt ◽  
J.S. Duncan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Lobe ◽  
Resting State ◽  
Brain Function ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Default Mode ◽  
Interictal Discharges

Toward a neuroscope: An application of high-performance computing for real-time evaluation of brain function using MRI

1994 ◽  
Vol 52 ◽  
pp. 922-923
Author(s):  
C. S. Potter ◽  
C. D. Gregory ◽  
H. D. Morris ◽  
Z.-P. Liang ◽  
P. C. Lauterbur
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Brain Function ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Complex Signal ◽  
Time Step ◽  
Brain Organization ◽  
Cognitive Studies ◽  
Positron Emission ◽  
Imaging And Spectroscopy ◽  
3D Anatomy

Over the past few years, several laboratories have demonstrated that changes in local neuronal activity associated with human brain function can be detected by magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy. Using these methods, the effects of sensory and motor stimulation have been observed and cognitive studies have begun. These new methods promise to make possible even more rapid and extensive studies of brain organization and responses than those now in use, such as positron emission tomography.Human brain studies are enormously complex. Signal changes on the order of a few percent must be detected against the background of the complex 3D anatomy of the human brain. Today, most functional MR experiments are performed using several 2D slice images acquired at each time step or stimulation condition of the experimental protocol. It is generally believed that true 3D experiments must be performed for many cognitive experiments. To provide adequate resolution, this requires that data must be acquired faster and/or more efficiently to support 3D functional analysis.

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