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, structuringmydiscussionaroundadilemmafirst posed by Morcom and Fletcher. I offer an alternative view of rest as a state dominatedby long-term processes and show how interaction effects might thereby let rest shed light on short-term changes in activation.