Experience sampling during fMRI reveals default network and executive system contributions to mind wandering.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America May 26, 2009 Kalina Christoff, Alan M Gordon, Jonathan Smallwood et al. 1,832 citations
Mind wandering, which occupies a large portion of waking life, involves parallel recruitment of both default and executive brain networks, two systems previously thought to work in opposition. Using fMRI with experience sampling during a task, activation in default network regions, particularly medial prefrontal cortex, was linked to subjective reports of mind wandering and to performance errors. Executive network recruitment also occurred, especially when participants lacked meta-awareness of their mind wandering. The findings suggest that mind wandering represents a unique mental state where these networks cooperate rather than oppose each other.