Human brains interpret external stimuli based on internal representations. One untested hypothesis is that the default-mode network (DMN), widely considered responsible for internally oriented cognition, can decode external information. Here, we posit that the unique structural and functional fingerprint of the precuneus (PCu) supports a prominent role for the posterior part of the DMN in this process. By analyzing the imaging data of 100 participants performing two attention-demanding tasks, we found that the PCu is functionally divided into dorsal and ventral subdivisions. We then conducted a comprehensive examination of their connectivity profiles and found that at rest, both the ventral PCu (vPCu) and dorsal PCu (dPCu) are mainly connected with the DMN but also are differentially connected with internally oriented networks (IoN) and externally oriented networks (EoN). During tasks, the double associations between the v/dPCu and the IoN/EoN are correlated with task performance and can switch depending o...