Default mode network engagement is greater for verbal than pictorial recollection: meta-analytic evidence and a semantic account

Description: Recollection—the vivid recovery of past events with contextual detail—consistently engages the default mode network (DMN), yet the extent to which this engagement depends on the nature of retrieved content remains unclear. This study presents a quantitative meta-analysis of 30 fMRI studies contrasting recollection with familiarity, comparing verbal materials (words) with pictorial materials (objects, faces, scenes, and abstract designs). Activation Likelihood Estimation revealed that both material types recruited the DMN, but verbal recollection elicited broader and stronger activation, particularly within the core and medial temporal subsystems, including the anteromedial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, retrosplenial cortex, and angular gyrus. By contrast, pictorial recollection produced more spatially circumscribed effects, largely in the inferior frontal cortex and precuneus, suggesting weaker DMN involvement. These findings indicate that DMN engagement reflects not only memory strength but also the richness of semantic associations linked to retrieved content, with verbal materials—deeply embedded in conceptual networks—evoking stronger associative integration than perceptually bound pictorial materials. Overall, the results advance a refined account of recollection-related DMN activity, highlighting semantic richness as a critical determinant.