The default mode network: where the idiosyncratic self meets the shared social world

The default mode network (DMN), traditionally seen as an internally focused system for daydreaming and planning, is proposed to be an active 'sense-making' network that combines incoming external information with prior internal knowledge to build rich, context-dependent models of unfolding situations. Review of studies using naturalistic stimuli like stories and movies shows that an individual's DMN responses are shaped both by external information accumulating over time and by personal past memories. This integration over long timescales creates a shared neural code essential for shared meaning, communication, narratives, and social communities.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The default mode network (DMN) is classically considered an 'intrinsic' system, specializing in internally oriented cognitive processes such as daydreaming, reminiscing and future planning. In this Perspective, we suggest that the DMN is an active and dynamic 'sense-making' network that integrates incoming extrinsic information with prior intrinsic information to form rich, context-dependent models of situations as they unfold over time. We review studies that relied on naturalistic stimuli, such as stories and movies, to demonstrate how an individual's DMN neural responses are influenced both by external information accumulated as events unfold over time and by the individual's idiosyncratic past memories and knowledge. The integration of extrinsic and intrinsic information over long timescales provides a space for negotiating a shared neural code, which is necessary for establishing shared meaning, shared communication tools, shared narratives and, above all, shared communities and social networks.