hardwired to zone out
Dec. 16th, 2002 07:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
novapsycheBrain Appears to Have 'Daydreaming' Mode
[my first reaction: Well, duh!]
Much as a car's engine hums along even when it's parked in neutral, the brain seems to contain a "default mode" in which certain regions become more active at rest, US researchers report.
"During rest, these regions appear to be interacting, because they change at similar rates," lead author Dr. Michael D. Greicius of Stanford University in California told Reuters Health.
Intriguingly, the behavior of these brain regions bears a certain resemblance to what one would expect from brain areas that make up human consciousness, Greicius added.
The default mode network supported in the current study generally increases its activity when the brain is at rest, then drops in activity once people are called to a certain task. In a similar way, Greicius said, a person could be daydreaming or following a stream of consciousness, but those activities would be zapped away as soon as the person was called to action, perhaps by a ringing telephone.
In addition, some of the brain regions that may form parts of the so-called default mode network have shown in previous studies to be involved in certain aspects of consciousness, Greicius added. For instance, one of the brain regions looked at in the current study, the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), has been shown to play a role in the brain processes by which people recall memories. In addition, PCC activity tends to peter out as people lose consciousness when sedated.
[The posterior cingulate cortex is also primarily involved during a DXM trip, if not other dissociative experiences.]
[my first reaction: Well, duh!]
Much as a car's engine hums along even when it's parked in neutral, the brain seems to contain a "default mode" in which certain regions become more active at rest, US researchers report.
"During rest, these regions appear to be interacting, because they change at similar rates," lead author Dr. Michael D. Greicius of Stanford University in California told Reuters Health.
Intriguingly, the behavior of these brain regions bears a certain resemblance to what one would expect from brain areas that make up human consciousness, Greicius added.
The default mode network supported in the current study generally increases its activity when the brain is at rest, then drops in activity once people are called to a certain task. In a similar way, Greicius said, a person could be daydreaming or following a stream of consciousness, but those activities would be zapped away as soon as the person was called to action, perhaps by a ringing telephone.
In addition, some of the brain regions that may form parts of the so-called default mode network have shown in previous studies to be involved in certain aspects of consciousness, Greicius added. For instance, one of the brain regions looked at in the current study, the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), has been shown to play a role in the brain processes by which people recall memories. In addition, PCC activity tends to peter out as people lose consciousness when sedated.
[The posterior cingulate cortex is also primarily involved during a DXM trip, if not other dissociative experiences.]
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(no subject)
Date: 2002-12-17 02:23 am (UTC)Wonder who paid for it.
(no subject)
Date: 2002-12-17 08:32 am (UTC)Re:
Date: 2002-12-18 12:50 am (UTC)