herefore flexibly shift their allegiance between these subnetworks to help regulate negative emotional experiences.

4.2.. Static brain networks and social functioning {#sec4-2}
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Compared with cognitive and emotional functioning, fewer studies have examined brain networks and social functioning. The few studies that have been conducted tend to highlight within-system connectivity in the default mode, and between the default mode and regions involved in processing sensory input (e.g., visual areas). The default mode system are associated with internally directed and self-generated thought, sensory systems are associated with externally directed stimulus-evoked processing, and cortical hubs (both in default mode and frontoparietal systems) are thought to integrate information across internal and external modalities (Andrews-Hanna, Smallwood, & Spreng, [@ref4]). Successfully navigating social interactions may require hubs in the default mode system that can efficiently integrate external information about the social environment with internal information about the self.

In one recent study, Schmälzle et al. ([@ref99]) examined functional connectivity during social exclusion and found differences in functional connectivity in default mode and mentalizing subnetworks during exclusion compared with inclusion ([Figure 3a--b](#fig3){ref-type="fig"}). Interestingly, they also found that this relationship was moderated by social network density, such that individuals with less dense friendship networks showed a stronger association between connectivity in the mentalizing network and rejection sensitivity (Schmälzle et al., [@ref99]). It is possible that people with less dense social networks (vs. people with more dense social networks) rely on different strategies and mentalizing resources when interacting with others, which may shape how they respond to social exclusion. For example, the experience of frequently interacting with unconnected others might influence how pe