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The Brain at Rest: What It Is Doing and Why That Matters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Abstract

Neuroimaging studies of the resting state continue to gather philosophical and scientific attention. Most discussions assume an identification between resting-state activity and activity in the so-called default mode network. I argue we should resist this identification, structuring my discussion around a dilemma first posed by Morcom and Fletcher. I offer an alternative view of rest as a state dominated by long-term processes and show how interaction effects might thereby let rest shed light on short-term changes in activation.

Type
Cognitive and Psychological Sciences
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

Thanks to the audience at PSA 2012 and to an anonymous reviewer for helpful comments. This work was partially written while at the University of Illinois at Chicago and at the Australian National University.

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