English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Free Plan

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has begun to narrow down theneural correlates of self-generated forms of thought, with current evidencepointing toward central roles for the default, frontoparietal, and visualnetworks. Recent work has linked the arising of thoughts more specifically todefault network activity, but the limited temporal resolution of fMRI hasprecluded more detailed conclusions about where in the brain self-createdmental content is generated and how this is achieved. Here I argue that theunparalleled spatiotemporal resolution of intracranial electrophysiology (iEEG)in human epilepsy patients can begin to provide answers to questions about thespecific neural origins of self-generated thought. I review the extensive bodyof literature from iEEG studies over the past few decades and show that manystudies involving passive recording or direct electrical stimulation throughoutthe brain all point to the medial temporal lobe as a key site ofthought-generation. At the same time, null effects from other brain regionssuggest that various other default network hubs, such as the posteriorcingulate cortex and inferior parietal lobule, might have only a marginal role(if any) in the self-generation or initiation of mental content like dreams,visual imagery, memories, and prospective simulations. Ultimately, combining avariety of neuroscientific methods that compensate for each other's weaknessesand complement each other's strengths may prove to be the most effective way tounderstand the brain's remarkable ability to decouple from the immediateenvironment and generate its own experiences.

Neural origins of self-generated thought: Insights from intracranial electrical stimulation and recordings in humans