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Updated: Mar 26, 2026
Network Analysis of the Default Mode Network Using Functional Connectivity MRI in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy
Published on: August 5, 2014
Objective sleep disturbances are associated with greater waking resting-state connectivity between the retrosplenial
Wolfram Regen1, Simon D Kyle1, Christoph Nissen1
1From the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Freiburg Medical Centre, Freiburg, Germany (Regen, Nissen, Feige, Baglioni, Riemann, Spiegelhalder); the School of Psychological Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK (Kyle); and the Department of Diagnostic Radiology, University of Freiburg Medical Centre, Freiburg, Germany (Hennig).
Background:
Psychological models highlight the bidirectional role of self-referential processing, introspection, worry and rumination in the development and maintenance of insomnia; however, little is known about the underlying neural substrates. Default mode network (DMN) functional connectivity has been previously linked to these cognitive processes.
Methods:
We used fMRI to investigate waking DMN functional connectivity in a well-characterized sample of patients with primary insomnia (PI) and good sleeper controls.
Results:
We included 20 patients with PI (8 men and 12 women, mean age 42.7 ± 13.4 yr) and 20 controls (8 men and 12 women, mean age 44.1 ± 10.6 yr) in our study. While no between-group differences in waking DMN connectivity were observed, exploratory analyses across all participants suggested that greater waking connectivity between the retrosplenial cortex/hippocampus and various nodes of the DMN was associated with lower sleep efficiency, lower amounts of rapid eye movement sleep and greater sleep-onset latency.
Limitations:
Owing to the cross-sectional nature of the study, conclusions about causality cannot be drawn.
Conclusion:
As sleep disturbances represent a transdiagnostic symptom that is characteristic of nearly all psychiatric disorders, our results may hold particular relevance to previous findings of increased DMN connectivity levels in patients with psychiatric disorders.
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