The wandering brain: Meta-analysis of functional neuroimaging studies of mind-wandering and related spontaneous thought processes

Fox, Kieran C. R.; Spreng, R. Nathan; Ellamil, Melissa; Jessica R. Andrews‐Hanna; Christoff, Kalina · 2015 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.02.039

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Summary

This paper presents the first quantitative meta-analysis of functional neuroimaging studies investigating the neural correlates of mind-wandering and related spontaneous thought processes. The research addresses a critical gap in cognitive neuroscience: while the Default Mode Network (DMN) is widely recognized as central to spontaneous thought, previous analyses often restricted focus to DMN regions, potentially overlooking other consistent neural activations. The authors argue that spontaneous thought is cognitively complex and likely involves a broader network of brain regions, necessitating a whole-brain approach to accurately map its neural basis. To achieve this, the authors conducted a systematic search of literature from 1996 to 2014, identifying 24 functional neuroimaging studies (fMRI or PET) involving healthy populations. They applied strict inclusion criteria, requiring studies to report whole-brain peak activation coordinates in standard space and utilize direct self-report measures of spontaneous thought frequency. After excluding studies with confounding factors (such as expert meditators or pain induction) or those lacking whole-brain data, 10 studies comprising 157 activation foci were included in the analysis. The authors employed Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE), a random-effects meta-analytic method, to determine the statistical convergence of activation foci across studies, using a false discovery rate threshold of q = .05. The results identified 13 brain regions consistently recruited during spontaneous thought. As expected, key DMN hubs showed significant activation, including the medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus, medial temporal lobe, and bilateral inferior parietal lobule. Crucially, however, the analysis revealed consistent recruitment of numerous non-DMN regions. These included areas associated with the frontoparietal control network, such as the rostrolateral prefrontal cortex and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, as well as the insula, temporopolar cortex, secondary somatosensory cortex, and lingual gyrus. The findings demonstrate that activation in non-DMN regions is as consistent as that in DMN regions across the examined studies. The significance of these findings lies in challenging the prevailing view that DMN activation alone is sufficient to characterize the neural basis of mind-wandering. The authors conclude that spontaneous thought relies on a distributed network involving both the DMN and frontoparietal control systems, among others. This suggests that future research in cognitive and clinical neuroscience must move beyond a DMN-centric framework to account for the contributions of these additional networks. Understanding this broader neural architecture is essential for elucidating the role of spontaneous thought in both healthy cognitive functions, such as creativity, and clinical conditions, such as depressive rumination.

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• mind wandering