From Biological Rhythms to the Default Mode Network: What Lies beneath the Tip of the Iceberg of Mind?

Abstract

Our conscious day-to-day self is often described as the “tip of the iceberg” of a much greater cognitive system. The edge of the water divides the phenomenal self from the sub/unconscious underlying it. Similar to an iceberg, the unconscious activity below the water vastly outweighs the conscious activity above it. What exactly lies beneath the surface of this murky water is a tantalizing topic of research and theory. The current research predominantly focuses on the physiology of the brain and the default mode network has been identified as an intrinsic mode of functioning. It is well known that autonomic nervous system sympathovagal balance orchestrated by the central autonomic network is strongly associated with modulation of cardiac, respiratory rate and other visceral physiological activity. In this article, we use existing research and a novel theory to tie together the default mode network, the autonomic nervous system, and non-neural physiology to describe a hypothesis on a greater biological system from which intrinsic brain activity may be founded. This hypothesis is that intrinsic brain activity and connectivities are significantly founded on activity of the body. We review how cardiorespiratory and other rhythms and electrical activity of the body may modulate and even underlie fundamental activity of the human brain and ultimately the mind. A more holistic biological system that could interface the brain and body via mechanisms such as neurovascular coupling would more accurately describe the nature of neural systems. Greater knowledge on the association and interface of brain and body via isomorphic physiologic counterparts to mind may carry profound implications in understanding intrinsic activity of the brain, consciousness, mind, and mental illness.