Kaufman reframes mindfulness debate, default mode network aids creativity and empathy

Mindfulness is often sold as a mute button for the brain, but Scott Barry Kaufman pushes back on that cartoon version of the practice. His argument is sharper and more useful: the mind’s wandering, imaginal life is not the problem, and in many cases it is the point. What matters is whether attention is getting lost in a loop of rumination or moving with enough flexibility to support insight, empathy, and presence.

The default mode network is not dead weight

The brain network at the center of this debate is the default mode network, or DMN, first identified in resting-state brain imaging research. It is widely tied to self-referential thought, autobiographical memory, future thinking, and perspective-taking, which already makes it hard to dismiss as mere mental static. Kaufman reframes it as the imagination network because that label fits how people actually use it: to build a life story, rehearse possibilities, and simulate other points of view.

That matters for mindfulness readers because the DMN is not some fringe neuroscience curiosity. A 2023 review by Marcus E. Raichle described it as central to internal narrative, introspection, social engagement, and consciousness. Another 2023 review in Neuron traced two decades of DMN research across self-reference, social cognition, episodic and autobiographical memory, language, semantic memory, and mind wandering. In other words, the network critics sometimes treat as a distraction machine is also the machinery behind some of the most distinctly human forms of thought.

Why Kaufman’s framing lands

Kaufman’s usefulness here is that he is arguing from inside psychology, not from the sidelines. He is a professor of psychology at Columbia University and the scientific director of the Imagination Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, so his defense of imagination carries the weight of someone who works at the intersection of creativity science and mental training.

His larger point is simple enough to use in practice: inward thought is not automatically a failure of mindfulness. Daydreaming, self-reflection, and future planning can all be productive states when they are supple and intentional. The mistake is treating every mental detour as a lapse, when some of those detours are where meaning, empathy, and creative flow actually happen.

Mind-wandering is not the same as rumination

This is where the conversation usually gets muddled. Kaufman draws a useful distinction between mind-wandering and rumination, and that distinction should change how you judge your own meditation sessions. Mind-wandering is broad and can be neutral or even beneficial, while rumination is repetitive, passive, and often negative thought that keeps circling the same pain point.

That difference matters because the research literature links rumination in depression to altered DMN connectivity. So when people say mindfulness should “stop the mind from wandering,” they may be blaming the wrong phenomenon. The real problem is not the DMN itself, but the rigid, self-attacking loop that turns inward attention into a trap.

For meditators, that means one important skill is learning to notice the texture of thought. A planning thought about an awkward conversation tomorrow is not the same as replaying the same shame spiral for the tenth time. One is mental movement; the other is getting stuck.

Mindfulness does not just shut networks down

The neuroscience around mindfulness actually fits Kaufman’s broader case. A 2022 meta-analysis in Scientific Reports found that mindfulness training was associated with strengthened cross-network connectivity involving the DMN, the salience network, and the frontoparietal control network. That suggests mindfulness does not simply silence the DMN, but may alter how it coordinates with systems involved in attention and executive control.

A separate 2022 Scientific Reports study found that one month of mindfulness meditation increased connectivity between nodes of the DMN and salience network. That is a useful corrective to the simplistic idea that meditation is a war on internal thought. The more realistic picture is that practice can help the brain relate differently to self-referential thinking, noticing when it matters and disengaging when it becomes sticky.

That is exactly the kind of shift experienced meditators recognize. The goal is not a blank mind. The goal is better timing, better discrimination, and less reflexive attachment to every thought that shows up.

What the imagination network gives you

Kaufman’s language may sound poetic, but the functions he highlights are concrete. The DMN supports autobiographical story, so it helps people make sense of who they are across time. It supports future thinking, so it lets the mind rehearse what might happen next. It also supports theory of mind, which is the ability to picture what other people may feel, believe, or intend.

That last piece is easy to underestimate in mindfulness conversations. The same circuitry that can generate a private daydream can also help you become less self-absorbed and more socially accurate. If you can imagine another person’s perspective, you are not losing touch with reality, you are refining your ability to meet it.

For meditators, that means the imagination network is not something to exile. It is something to train. Used well, it can deepen compassion, sharpen creative work, and make self-inquiry less brittle.

A more skillful way to practice

The practical lesson is to stop treating every thought as an enemy and start sorting thought by function. During meditation, you can ask a few simple questions:

• Is this thought creative, reflective, or useful for planning?
• Is it a story I am using to understand myself or someone else?
• Or is it the same painful loop returning unchanged?

That is a cleaner mindfulness frame than the old silence-the-mind script. It gives you room to let imagination do its job without handing it the steering wheel. It also keeps you honest about rumination, which is where attention becomes self-harm instead of insight.

Kaufman’s real correction is not that wandering mind is always good. It is that the brain’s default mode network is not the villain many mindfulness clichés make it out to be. When you sit this week, try one experiment: notice whether your inner speech is generating a perspective, a plan, or a punishing loop, and respond to each one differently. That is a more intelligent practice than trying to erase the whole inner life.