dsmart

@DrmDoc - thank you for your response! This is wonderfully detailed information and it's pretty clear that the light switch analogy doesn't lend well to the brain in such a direct "on/off" sense. But allow me to clarify. Retrospectively, what I meant by "on" and "off" modes were not necessarily in relation to brain networks or modes, but rather those times in our lives when we are highly engaged ("on") vs. the times we are disengaged from a mental perspective ("off"). It sounds like what I'm looking for is what you've mentioned: the sympathetic (SNS) and parasympathetic nervous systems (PNS). Fight or flight vs. rest and digest. So maybe my follow-up question then is this: when we are highly engaged in life from a subjective experience perspective (actively focused on a single task rather than ruminating on the past or the future), is that the SNS at work? When I say highly engaged, I don't necessarily envision it as being "fight or flight" since that's more an inducer of stress, but perhaps that is still under the role of the SNS. I'm thinking more of being in a flow state. What can be said from a scientific perspective of these two "states" of subjective human experience (flow vs. not-flow, active vs. passive, etc.)? Perhaps I've left the neuroscience umbrella of study, but I'd still be interested in your thoughts.

Okay, you say the answer is no, but how can you be so sure? The research seems to point in the other direction. I discovered the idea initially from Gary Weber, but like you, I was skeptical. I wanted to do more research and ask the experts. That's my reason for posting. (begin at 20:17 for his talk on default network, and 24:23 where he introduces the three networks). The Default Mode Network (DMN) seems to be a prominent idea as there's extensive information listed on Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Default_mode_network There seems to be a lot of information provided for its existence, however the criticism listed in the final section confirms that the idea is not yet universally accepted. For what reason, I'm not sure. But just because something isn't "universally accepted" doesn't mean science hasn't found evidence of its existence. Additionally, this article from NCBI mentions the Task Network as the "second major network" of the brain. This seems pretty offish. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4017816/ That being said, I'm not finding much of anything for the "Control Network", the third network of the brain as Gary cites in his video. Perhaps there's no evidence for it yet. Any new thoughts on the above? Thanks again for jumping in!

Can anyone verify if the following statements are scientifically accurate? I'm writing an article and would like to verify before I begin spreading the word. Is it true that the various regions of the brain are interconnected by three networks (default network, task network, control network)? To oversimplify for the average reader, could these networks be compared to a light switch (the task being our "on" mode, the default being our "off" mode, and the control acting as the switch itself, moderating between the two)? The default network is associated with sense of self, often referred to as the selfing network The default network and the task network are anti-correlated, activity in one decreases activity in the other Thanks!