Default mode network, Central executive network, and Frontoparietal network (DMN (Default mode network), CEN (Central executive network), FPN (Frontoparietal network))

The default mode network (DMN), central executive/ frontoparietal/ executive control networks are large-scale functional brain networks identified through neuroimaging. The DMN is primarily active during rest and internally focused tasks such as self-reflection, autobiographical memory retrieval, future planning, and social cognition. It includes regions like the medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus, angular gyrus, temporoparietal junction, lateral temporal cortex. The frontoparietal/central executive/executive control networks—terms often used interchangeably—are composed mainly of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and posterior parietal cortex. They are crucial for externally oriented attention-demanding tasks requiring working memory maintenance/manipulation and goal-directed behavior. These networks interact dynamically; the salience/cingulo-opercular system mediates switching between them depending on task demands. Disruptions in their connectivity have been implicated across a wide range of psychiatric/neurodevelopmental disorders as well as neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's disease. While they serve as important biomarkers for disease states or treatment response in research settings, they are not molecular therapeutic targets themselves but rather systems-level constructs describing patterns of coordinated neural activity across distributed brain regions.

Other names

Default state networkMedial frontoparietal network (for DMN)Lateral frontoparietal networkExecutive control networkFrontoparietal control networkMultiple-demand systemExtrinsic mode networkDomain-general systemCognitive control network