Distant from input: Evidence of regions within the default mode network supporting perceptually-decoupled and conceptually-guided cognition
NeuroImage January 12, 2018 Charlotte Murphy, Elizabeth Jefferies, Shirley-Ann Rueschemeyer et al. 288 citations
The default mode network supports cognition independent of immediate environment and higher-order conceptual representations. A novel paradigm manipulated perceptual information availability and representational complexity during decision-making. Brain regions including left and right angular gyri and left middle temporal gyrus responded when cognition combined stimulus independence with multi-modal information. These default mode network sites showed stronger response to demanding memory judgments than easier perceptual tasks, contradicting the view they support automatic cognition. These regions were at the extreme end of a macroscale gradient from sensorimotor to transmodal cortex, suggesting functional distance from sensory input enables conceptually rich cognitive states in absence of input.