Here is an article you are starting to read. Your mind clings to it, turning little symbols on your screen or in your journal into words. Putting them together generates meaning in your mind. If your concentration wavers, your train of thought may diverge. Besides, what will your mother think of the gift you chose for her birthday?
This article is about mind wandering, a phenomenon known as mind wandering in the scientific literature. These are the moments when our mind wanders, when it begins to wander. Sometimes without our knowledge, sometimes of our own free will. And for about 25 years, these daydreams have tickled the curiosity of neuropsychologists, who are beginning to understand something about it.
The subject is essential in particular because the technologies at our fingertips reduce mental wandering. “I think there’s a risk in never letting our minds wander,” says Nathan Spreng, director of McGill University’s Brain and Cognition Research Laboratory, which studies the brain networks involved in focusing attention, memory and social interactions.
What do our lanterns illuminate when, by taking the time to slow down, we let our minds breathe? The light of our cognition tries to pierce the future. She focuses on the past, to understand it better. Our brain is dedicated to the humans in our life; it probes the delicate terrain of the relationships that unite us to them. The wandering mind sometimes ventures into the field of rumination; from time to time he lingers on the side of happy projections.
“Our mind constantly oscillates between different cognitive representations of the people in our life, of our goals, of what we are going to do tomorrow or even today. We can constantly solicit these latent representations in order to adapt our behavior to complex situations. That’s probably why the human mind has the experience of wandering,” says Jonathan Smallwood, a professor at Queen’s University in Ontario and a specialist in wandering minds.
The discovery of a network
When the mind wanders, it is not idle. In the 1990s, scientists noticed that areas of the brain turn off when a subject focuses his attention on a concrete task to be accomplished. On the other hand, these zones — which since 2001 have been called the “default mode” network (MPD) — sparkle with activity when we daydream, imagine the future or delve into the past. You had to contain this cerebral bubbling before starting to read this text.
Researchers have a few strategies for studying daydreams. They can invite participants to complete a task before interrupting them unexpectedly to ask them what they are thinking. Some of these experiments are done using a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine to see where it sizzles in the brain of the volunteer.
“The way to get activity in the default mode network is to ask people to let their minds go,” says Spreng. Or, we can suggest that they reflect on events from their past. If you go back in time, trying to think about where you were, your feelings, and the people around you, that strains that brain network. »
“Most of the time, it is difficult to quantify the value of mental wandering,” continues the McGill professor. Certainly not in economic terms! You may sometimes feel like you’re not getting anything out of it right away, but it’s important to leave room for this wandering. It evokes moments of lucidity. You can make discoveries. All the information may have already been in your head, but new connections are made and creative ideas emerge. These moments when we let our minds wander are very disturbed in today’s society. »
A few years ago, scientists asked professional writers and physicists to note when the most creative idea of their day came up. One time out of five, it was during a moment that had nothing to do with the problem to be solved. On average, ideas born out of daydreaming moments were more likely to help break a deadlock and be associated with a “ha ha!” moment. “.
When inappropriate, mind wandering can also cause problems. It reduces reading comprehension, makes it more difficult to attend lectures and lengthens reaction time behind the wheel. Knowing how to master this wild horse (especially through mindfulness meditation) has clear advantages. In Smallwood’s studies, the most intelligent participants were able to stop wandering during a difficult task and engage more in an easy task.
And the mice?
Studies indicate that between 25-50% of our waking time is spent thinking thoughts that float out of the “here and now”. However, theHomo sapiens today is quick to pull out his smart phone during the five seconds he waits for the elevator. Modern life, lined with screens that exert a force of attraction as strong as that of a black hole, crushes daydreaming. But does restraining the wandering mind cause cognitive problems?
“It’s complicated,” replies Mr. Spreng. The brain network of the MPD is implicated in certain psychiatric disorders (where insignificant thoughts become obsessive and anxiety-provoking), but also performs “critical functions” in healthy people. “The heavy use of computers and phones is a constant distraction that takes us away from the normal course of our thoughts. These habits remove the network from the MPD more systematically. The consequences are not really known for the moment, ”explains the specialist.
The taste of our mind for Facebook, Instagram and TikTok is also no stranger to its propensity for wandering. In both cases, thought delights in navigating the complex web of social interactions. Participants in wandering mind experiments very often say that their thoughts drifted naturally to their friends.
According to Mr. Smallwood, the human disposition to plan things well in advance (and therefore, by necessity, to daydream) has contributed greatly to the success of our species on earth. Do other animals’ minds wander? Even mice have to orchestrate their lives beyond the present moment, he points out. In their brains, we also see cerebral activity that roughly corresponds to the MPD in humans. “We don’t know at all if the mice are daydreaming,” notes the Queen’s professor, however. There is so much to discover: the craftsmen of this young science can dream!