Mind wandering: a useless phenomenon? Not sure…
We pass 30 to 50% of our waking time has
daydreamwhether in class, at work or in daily life. This phenomenon, called mental wanderingoccurs when the mind escapes
of the current task to explore other thoughts.
Long perceived as negativedaydreaming has been associated with a decrease inattentionfrom the working memory and immediate performance. “Some researchers go so far as to assert that reducing daydreaming could increase a country’s GDPby improving the attention of individuals”underlines Dezső Némethhead of the Memo team at the Lyon Neuroscience Research Center.
But if daydreaming is so disadvantageous, why does the brain spend so much time on it? This question has intrigued scientists for decades.
An asset for implicit learning
To evaluate the effects of mental wanderingthe team of Dezső Németh conducted a study with
135 volunteers. The experiment consisted of observing images appearing randomly in one of the
four windows of a screen and
predict in which window they would appear.
In reality, the appearance of the images followed a complex sequenceand participants were regularly questioned about their concentration level. On the 135 participants, 117 admitted to daydreaming on at least one occasion, representing on average
a third of the test time.
The results are surprising: those who had moments of daydreaming got better scores than those who remained focused. However, none of them had
consciously identified the sequence of images.
“In this study, daydreaming seems associated with
better implicit learning skills“explain Dezső Németh.
A superpower to predict the future
L’implicit learning plays a key role in our ability to anticipate And
analyze our environment without being aware of it. “Our brain is constantly trying to
decipher what surrounds us for better
predict the future“explain Dezső Németh.
He gives several concrete examples:
- During a conversationwe unconsciously analyze intonationTHE words used and the gesture of our interlocutor to better understand him.
- When listening to a new languageour brain captures the soundstheir
pace and their sequences
to release one logical diagram.
As part of this study, daydreaming would have allowed participants to better integrate the underlying structure of image sequences, thus promoting theimplicit learning.
The “waking sleep” theory
How to explain these results? Dezső Németh
puts forward a fascinating hypothesis: that of “sleep during wakefulness”.
Studies carried out at theBrain Institute in Paris showed that mental wandering is associated with
slow waves in the prefrontal cortexsimilar to those observed during the
light sleep.
The idea? When we dream, our brain would enter into a
intermediate statepromoting the
memory consolidation. In addition, by exiting this phase, we could benefit from a renewed vigilancewhich would help us see things underneath
a new angle.
Should we therefore encourage daydreaming in class? “Still not”tempers Dezső Németh. But according to him, it is useless to
to be alarmed facing students who temporarily drop out. “These moments of confusion could play a key role in new learning”he concludes.