Scaffolding imagination: A role for medial frontal cortex in the expression of off-task thought

Abstract

We often think about people, places and events that are outside of our immediate environment. Although prior studies have explored how we can reduce the occurrence of these experiences, the neurocognitive process through which they are produced are less understood. The current study builds on developmental and evolutionary evidence that language helps organise and express our thoughts. Behaviorally, we found the occurrence of task unrelated thought (TUT) in easy situations was associated with thinking in words. Using experience sampling data, in combination with online measures of neural function, we established that activity in a region of anterior cingulate cortex / medial-prefrontal cortex (mPFC) tracked with changes in the expression of TUT. This region is at the intersection of two mPFC clusters identified through their association with variation in aspects of spontaneous thought: thinking in words (dorsal) and mental time travel (ventral). Finally, using meta-analytic decoding we confirmed the dorsal/ventral distinction within mPFC corresponding to a functional difference between domains linked to language and meaning and those linked to memory and scene construction. This evidence suggests a role for mPFC in the expression of TUT that may emerge from interactions with distributed neural signals reflecting processes such as language and memory.