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

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.