Medial prefrontal cortex and self-referential mental activity: Relation to a default mode of brain function

Gusnard, Debra A.; Akbudak, Erbil; Shulman, Gordon L.; Raichle, Marcus E.

doi:10.1073/pnas.071043098

Medial prefrontal cortex and self-referential mental activity: Relation to a default mode of brain function

Medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) is among those brain regions having the highest baseline metabolic activity at rest and one that exhibits decreases from this baseline across a wide variety of goal-directed behaviors in functional imaging studies. This high metabolic rate and this behavior suggest…