The study yielded three main findings. First, in line with our predictions, the main DMN regions, posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), ventral parietal cortex (VPC), and medial prefrontal cortex mPFC all showed an encoding/retrieval flip for externally-presented events. Decreased activity in these regions was associated with successful Ext-Enc, but increased activity with successful Ext-Ret. Second, in disagreement with the internal orienting account, the encoding decrease occurred regardless of whether events were internally-generated (Int-Enc) or externally-presented (Ext-Enc). Finally, in line with the hippocampal coupling hypothesis, the hippocampal formation (HF) showed an exception to this pattern. Increased activity was associated with successful Int-Enc and Ext-Enc as well as Int-Ret and Ext-Ret. Below, we discuss these findings in relation to the encoding/retrieval flip within the DMN, as well as the internal orienting and hippocampal coupling accounts of the flip pattern.
