title: Persistent operational synchrony within brain default-mode network and self-processing operations in healthy subjects.
abstract: Based on the theoretical analysis of self-consciousness concepts, we hypothesized that the spatio-temporal pattern of functional connectivity within the default-mode network (DMN) should persist unchanged across a variety of different cognitive tasks or acts, thus being task-unrelated. This supposition is in contrast with current understanding that DMN activated when the subjects are resting and deactivated during any attention-demanding cognitive tasks. To test our proposal, we used, in retrospect, the results from our two early studies (Fingelkurts, 1998; Fingelkurts et al., 2003). In both studies for the majority of experimental trails we indeed found a constellation of operationally synchronized cortical areas (indexed as DMN) that was persistent across all studied experimental conditions in all subjects. Furthermore, we found three major elements comprising this DMN: two symmetrical occipito-parieto-temporal and one frontal spatio-temporal patterns. This new data directly supports the notion that DMN has a specific functional connotation - it provides neurophysiologic basis for self-processing operations, namely first-person perspective taking and an experience of agency.
authors.affiliation: BM-Science - Brain and Mind Technologies Research Centre, Espoo, Finland. andrew.fingelkurts@bm-science.com
authors.forename: Andrew A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Fingelkurts
authors.forename: Alexander A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Fingelkurts
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D006801:Humans; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology*