4) "Blah, Blah / Monkey Mind", Tasking and Control
The Default Mode Network (DMN) has been increasingly important in understanding awakening, self-referential thoughts, tasking, meditation, and psychedelics.
It defined three main components of the 11-element DMN; a two-element core (yellow), and two sub-networks which give a sense of "self and other" (blue) and "self through time" (green).
When folk were concentrating fully on performing tasks, the TPN(task positive network)was active/the DMN ("blah, blah") was inactive; when not tasking, the DMN was active with virtually continuous self-referential internal narrative (SRIN) - "blah, blah".
The Default Mode Network (DMN) has been increasingly important in understanding awakening, self-referential thoughts, tasking, meditation, and psychedelics.
It defined three main components of the 11-element DMN; a two-element core (yellow), and two sub-networks which give a sense of "self and other" (blue) and "self through time" (green).
When folk were concentrating fully on performing tasks, the TPN(task positive network)was active/the DMN ("blah, blah") was inactive; when not tasking, the DMN was active with virtually continuous self-referential internal narrative (SRIN) - "blah, blah".
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Andrews-Hanna, et al., 2010 |
The DMN is now renamed the Default Network (DN) to highlight its "role as a large-scale brain system whose functions may extend beyond the resting state".
The DN is actually active in both the very predominant non-tasking "blah, blah", and in some self-related tasking. No longer just an anti-network to the TPN (now called the Dorsal Attention Network (DAN)), the DN is characterized by "the type of self-generated mental content it supports".
The DN is actually active in both the very predominant non-tasking "blah, blah", and in some self-related tasking. No longer just an anti-network to the TPN (now called the Dorsal Attention Network (DAN)), the DN is characterized by "the type of self-generated mental content it supports".
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Yeo, et al. 2011 Color scheme as in A-H 2010 |
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There is also a meta-analysis (at left) on 526 meta-analyses on terms/concepts relating to memory, attention, emotion, etc. This gives some idea of what the areas of the DN relate to. (Letter size indicates importance and arrow size the strength of the correlations. Colors are consistent.) |
The DN and DAN work closely w/, and are situated physically around, a control network. The frontoparietal control system (FPCS/FPCN), (shown below) does the cognitive control and decision making processes for focusing attention. Originally comprised of the lateral prefrontal cortex and the inferior parietal lobe, it now includes six other centers.
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DAS = DAN HCMS = DN FPCS = FPCN Vincent, et al. 2008 |
Andrews-Hanna combined these works w/Spreng, et al. (2010) and Buckner (2013) to create a complex, multi-network intercommunication scheme, shown below.
An important improvement is that many centers that were treated as one, are now broken out into their own component parts - front, back, right, left, top, bottom, side - and the relationships of those components is distinguished.
An important improvement is that many centers that were treated as one, are now broken out into their own component parts - front, back, right, left, top, bottom, side - and the relationships of those components is distinguished.
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DN/DMN - default - blue FPCN/FPCS - control- green DAN - tasking - red Node size - interconnector hub import Line thickness - correlation |
The FPCN's physical location between the DN and the DAN indicates that it is the executive control network that moves the action back and forth between them, integrating their opposing operations as required.
An FPCN subnetwork, the "salience" network, switches between "internal" and "external" modes of attention and suppresses DN activity; it is also connected to the DAN.
There are two major networks, a) the "task positive, or task control network" (TCN) which initiates and maintains task level control, selects motor responses to stimuli, and suppresses irrelevant distracting information, and b) the default mode network (DMN) which is responsible for our sense of "self and other" and "self in time", self-reflection and related emotions and is the core of the "blah, blah" self-referential narrative.
An FPCN subnetwork, the "salience" network, switches between "internal" and "external" modes of attention and suppresses DN activity; it is also connected to the DAN.
There are two major networks, a) the "task positive, or task control network" (TCN) which initiates and maintains task level control, selects motor responses to stimuli, and suppresses irrelevant distracting information, and b) the default mode network (DMN) which is responsible for our sense of "self and other" and "self in time", self-reflection and related emotions and is the core of the "blah, blah" self-referential narrative.
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TCN cross slice |
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DMN
longitudinal slice |
The TCN was represented by the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and the left and right anterior insula (AI). The DMN was represented by the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), ventral and dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), and (not shown) left and right inferior parietal lobe (IPL), and lateral temporal cortex; the main focus was on the PCC and MPFC.
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Increased accuracy and response when TCN suppresses DMN |
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Decreased accuracy and response when DMN interferes w/TCN |
The study also showed that when the DMN is not sufficiently suppressed, it distracts and interferes with the TCN by sending it signals; this causes performance to drop. This demonstrates that, as Ding says, "Your brain is a constant seesaw back and forth.”
This work makes clearer what may be happening with longer meditation times as the DMN is "shut down" and maintained that way with a "monitoring and control" network while a new network comprised of an expanded version of this paper's TCN is stabilized and maintained as the "new normal" replacement, default operating system.
It does appear that with increased numbers and duration of events of the "new normal" state, i.e. stillness and "now, now, now" replacing confusion, anxiety and suffering, that the brain, which "prefers" this "new normal", is able to refine and improve the replacement network. This new network/operating system becomes less "noisy", more stable, and natural in the sense that it doesn't require a "doer" w/a technique to keep it "in place". The "new normal" operating system has as a key feature the persistent loss of the self-referential narrative, and w/it, the loss of self-referential fears and desires.
Takeaways:
a) A "control"/FPCN network does the operational switching between the autobiographical/"blah, blah" and the semantic/"tasking" networks. Better management of this switching system requires a better development of the FPCN through meditation, self-inquiry, mindfulness, acceptance, etc.
b) Semantic problem solving and planning is done by the "tasking"/DAN network.
c) Autobiographical problem solving and planning is done by the "default"/DN network. As the DN is almost always in "blah, blah" mode, these "autobiographical" functions w/o emotional "blah, blah" were overlooked.
d) Regulation of the DN's "sticky"/"blah, blah" self-referential internal narrative (SRIN) is done largely by the salience subnetwork of the FPCN.
Sources:
This work makes clearer what may be happening with longer meditation times as the DMN is "shut down" and maintained that way with a "monitoring and control" network while a new network comprised of an expanded version of this paper's TCN is stabilized and maintained as the "new normal" replacement, default operating system.
It does appear that with increased numbers and duration of events of the "new normal" state, i.e. stillness and "now, now, now" replacing confusion, anxiety and suffering, that the brain, which "prefers" this "new normal", is able to refine and improve the replacement network. This new network/operating system becomes less "noisy", more stable, and natural in the sense that it doesn't require a "doer" w/a technique to keep it "in place". The "new normal" operating system has as a key feature the persistent loss of the self-referential narrative, and w/it, the loss of self-referential fears and desires.
Takeaways:
a) A "control"/FPCN network does the operational switching between the autobiographical/"blah, blah" and the semantic/"tasking" networks. Better management of this switching system requires a better development of the FPCN through meditation, self-inquiry, mindfulness, acceptance, etc.
b) Semantic problem solving and planning is done by the "tasking"/DAN network.
c) Autobiographical problem solving and planning is done by the "default"/DN network. As the DN is almost always in "blah, blah" mode, these "autobiographical" functions w/o emotional "blah, blah" were overlooked.
d) Regulation of the DN's "sticky"/"blah, blah" self-referential internal narrative (SRIN) is done largely by the salience subnetwork of the FPCN.
Sources:
Key moments:
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2:58
Two Distinct Subsystems |
10:42
Decreased Connectivity |
11:52
Experiences on Psilocybin |
16:26
Hood Mystivism Scale Statements |