One of the striking findings of the research on brain connectivity is the establishment of the Default Mode Network (DMN), comprising the posterior cingulate, the medial prefrontal, and lateral parietal cortices, as well as the medial temporal lobes (MTLs), as a large-scale neurocognitive network and part of the core architecture of the brain (Hagmann et al., 2008; Raichle et al., 2001; Mesulam, 2012). Various neuroimaging techniques, including structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (s/fMRI), have shown that nodes of the DMN are structurally and functionally highly interconnected with one another (Evans, 2013; Hagmann et al., 2008; Honey et al., 2010; Hosseini and Kesler, 2013). Further underscoring its centrality in the human brain, computational models predict that damage to DMN members causes widespread disruptions of functional connectivity within and beyond the DMN (Alstott et al., 2009). Specifically, these models predict that focal damage to the DMN causes decreased interhemispheric connectivity but increased intrahemispheric functional connectivity.
