The mind-wandering network recruits neurons within the prefrontal cortex (just behind your forehead and eyes) in addition to the cingulate (a couple of inches farther back), joining them to the hippocampus, the center of memory consolidation. It does this through the activity of noradrenaline neurons in the locus coeruleus, a tiny little hub near the brainstem, deep inside the skull, which has evolved a dense mass of fibers connected to the prefrontal cortex.
