The human brain has several large-scale intrinsic functional networks, which are ensembles of widely distributed brain regions with statistically dependent fluctuations in activity at rest. Our perspective emphasizes the domain-general role of these networks in creating psychological and behavioral phenomena. Namely, two of these functional networks, the default mode network (DMN) and salience network (SN), together constitute an intrinsic neural system for allostasis. Allostasis, or predictive regulation of the body by the brain, allows the brain to coordinate processes in the body’s periphery to maintain overall optimal energetic efficiency. Our work has shown that the default mode network and salience network have extensive connections with subcortical and brainstem structures that are important for this process. These networks also likely play a pivotal role in signal integration in the brain, given that they overlap with and contain a very high proportion of “rich-club” hubs, defined as regions showing the densest anatomical connections in the cerebral cortex. More recently, we have extended our view to integrate the hypothesis that signal propagation in the brain is coordinated along multiple hierarchical functional gradients, whose organization is consistent with the principles of a predictive processing account of brain function.
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