SCIENTIFIC FRAMEWORK

This project is based on recent neuroscience studies. Before the year 2000, neuroscience had focused on studying how the brain reacts when stimulated by external means, which brain regions activate when seeing, tasting, reading, moving, etc. Many of these previous studies, assumed that the neural activity that took place before and after a task, had no relevance to research. But a few years ago, neuroscientists discovered that some brain regions decreased their activity when commanded to complete a task. Opposed to what they thought, the amount of oxygen consumed by the brain while resting was surprisingly high compared to the consumption while performing a task. Further research lead to the discovery of a complex neural network conformed by regions that work permanently when we are not engaged in some external task, in other words, by default. In 2001, they gave this discovery the name of default mode network. This network can be described as mind-wandering, i.e. using past experiences to plan for the future, navigate social interactions, and maximize the utility of moments when we are not otherwise engaged by the external world. Now we know that in order to understand how the brain works depends critically on the study of its intrinsic activity and how it gets us closer to the understanding of consciousness. Everyone has experienced some kind of mind wandering, but not all of them are aware that it corresponds to a specific neural network. The later, arises the possibility to collaborate between design, art and science to engage the public with these complex and novel scientific research, thus exploring new ways to see and acquire knowledge.
Since the discovery of the network is very recent (2001), there are few accurate findings of the functions of the default mode network and the information available is sometimes speculative. What we know for sure, is how to distinguish the difference between the brain activity that corresponds to the default mode and which one corresponds to other neural networks. Either you are completing a task interacting with the exterior, or you are doing ‘nothing’. This nothingness is random thought made out of anything that concerns you in that precise moment. It can make you travel in time to the past, the future or no time at all. So far, any kind of mind wandering is associated with this neural network and its outcomes are fundamental for further understanding of the brain, and every task induced activity turns off the default mode. With this in mind, it is possible to distinguish any neural activity into two main states of mind: rest and attention. It is also relevant for this project to highlight the fact that the function of the default mode is entirely personal. Internal thought is not shared among others, only happens between you and your mind. The activity of the default mode, often compared to a stream of consciousness, can be made out of limitless amount of varied contents. This kind of thoughts appear spontaneously in your mind and they can skip rapidly into other thoughts, even other times and spaces, and end it up somewhere unexpected. This makes the default mode network a nonlinear system, where small changes at the beginning can amplify in the process and cause enormous changes at the end.

---

BASES CIENTÍFICAS

Este proyecto está basado en estudios recientes en neurociencia.Imaginémonos en el campo mirando las estrellas, mientras nuestra mente divaga. De repente pasa una estrella fugaz, que rápidamente capta nuestra atención. Una vez que esta pasa, volvemos a nuestra divagación. El científico Marcus Raichle utiliza esta analogía para mostrarnos el gran sesgo histórico que ha motivado la neurociencia para estudiar esos breves períodos en los cuales tratamos los estímulos externos, por ejemplo el estudio de los correlatos neuronales asociados a un estímulo visual que viaja a gran velocidad, en este caso la estrella fugaz, dándole muy poca importancia a lo que pasó antes y después del estímulo (Raichle, 2010). De hecho, hasta hace pocos años existían escasos reportes sobre los correlatos neuronales durante períodos sin instrucciones específicas, o de reposo. Estos períodos se utilizaban, y en muchos casos se siguen utilizando, como períodos de control pasivo, asumiendo implícitamente la poca importancia de estos períodos, que paradójicamente son los que ocupan más tiempo en nuestra vida. Este fenómeno cambió drásticamente por un descubrimiento accidental en la última década del siglo veinte.
A pesar de que el interés no estaba centrado en estudiar el cerebro en períodos de reposo, un pequeño grupo de estudios reveló que existen ciertas regiones del cerebro que presentan una mayor actividad en los periodos de reposo que en períodos en los cuales se realizan tareas dirigidas a un objetivo en particular (Binder et al., 1999; Gusnard & Raichle, 2001; Shulman et al., 1997). En estos estudios, la exploración de la actividad cerebral durante los estados de reposo se produjo con posterioridad a los informes originales, que se centró en las tareas dirigidas a un objetivo.
Debido a su actividad de línea de base intrínsecamente elevada durante el reposo, distintas regiones del cerebro que se desactivan sistemáticamente durante una tarea, colectivamente forman una red conocida como red por defecto (DMN, por default-mode-network) (Gusnard & Raichle, 2001; Raichle et al., 2001). Este concepto, recibido con gran escepticismo por la comunidad, rompe una de las piedras angulares de la neurociencia, la suposición de que el período anterior a una tarea, llamada línea de base, es un estado neutral, con bajo consumo de energía. En los últimos 15 años no solamente se ha descrito de forma detallada la dinámica del DMN a nivel metabólico y electrofisiológico (Ossandon et al., 2011; Ossandon et al., 2012), sino que comprender su funcionamiento es clave para comprender nuestro cerebro, y que en su dinámica recae parte importante de quienes somos.