The default mode network (sometimes called the default network) refers to a group of interconnected brain structures that are hypothesized to be part of a functional system activated when one is awake but not involved in any specific mental exercise. Thus, the default mode network is thought to be most active during things like daydreaming, recalling memories, envisioning the future, etc. and least active during particular tasks like paying attention. Some structures that are often included in the network are the medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, and the inferior parietal lobule.
Kate Fehlhaber
Kate graduated from Scripps College in 2009 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Neuroscience, completing the cellular and molecular track with honors. As an undergraduate, she studied long-term plasticity in models of Parkinson’s disease in a neurobiology lab at University of California, Los Angeles. She continued this research as lab manager before entering the University of Southern California Neuroscience graduate program in 2011 and then transferring to UCLA in 2013. She completed her PhD in 2017, where her research focused on understanding the communication between neurons in the eye. Kate founded Knowing Neurons in 2011, and her passion for creative science communication has continued to grow.
