Daydreaming is the result of the brain reverting to its normal state in the absence of engaging problems, rather than a pointless distraction, according to U.S. researchers Credit: iStockphoto
ADELAIDE: Our minds may wander during boring tasks because daydreaming is actually the brain’s normal state, rather than a pointless distraction, according to a new U.S. study.
The researchers, reporting their findings today in the U.S. journal, Science, found that daydreaming could be the result of the brain mulling over important – but not immediately relevant – issues when the external environment ceases to pose interesting and engaging problems.
“For the most part psychologists have sort of assumed that we spend most of our time engaged in goal-directed thought and that, every so often, we have blips of irrelevant thoughts that pop up on the radar,” said lead author Malia Mason of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
“It could very well be the case, however, that most of the time we are engaged in less directed, unintended thought and that this state is routinely interrupted by periods of goal-directed thought.”
Daydreaming or mind-wandering – familiar to one and all – is more precisely defined as a state of mind where thoughts that are experienced by an individual are unrelated to what is going on in the environment around them, according to Mason. When wandering, the brain flits from one thought to the next, generating images, voices, thoughts and feelings.
“This type of [wandering] thought can be fanciful and it can be problematic and distracting, but usually it’s quite practical, for example, most people spend the time thinking about what they need to do in the impending future,” said Mason.
When deciding how best to encourage daydreaming in order to study it, the researchers recognised that our minds often wander while we are engaged in familiar tasks, such as making a tuna fish sandwich, because we don’t need to concentrate on it. They trained study subjects to become proficient on certain tasks so that their minds would be able to wander when they performed them, but would have to concentrate when given something new.
The team used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to learn what parts of their brains were active during both goal-oriented thought and daydreaming. In the fMRI images, the seat of daydreams appeared to be the ‘default network’ a region of the brain that remains active when we rest or are not engaged in a focussed task, but switches off when we need to concentrate.
The default network is a collection of regions from the medial frontal and medial parietal regions of the brain. The frontal lobes are involved in functions including impulse control, judgment, language, memory, motor function, problem solving, sexual behavior, socialisation and spontaneity. The parietal lobe plays an important part in processing sensory information.
Previous studies have shown that brain damage to parts the default network is associated with a “mental emptiness” and an absence of spontaneous speech and thought.
According to Mason, the most important question is why our brains evolved to wander at all. His team suggests that perhaps it keeps our brains aroused during mundane tasks, or simply that our brains may wander because they can.
“In a sense these thoughts reflect an amazing capacity on our part to multi-task,” said Mason. “It is as if we have a sense of how much [attention] we have ‘left over’ and allocate these resources to working out some problem or anticipating what we have to do in the near future.”
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Is this why I come up with wayout ideas that others think stupid..
It’s relaxing and it happens when you least expect it. The brain is so amazing it has the ability to put you in trans like state .
is absent mindedness and day dreaming differernt? i am used to be in a dream like state even on roads.
it helps me to escape hard reality. It takes me to a completely different world.
its the best thing which happened to us
and may also be a characteristic displayed by people that are diagnosed with ADHD-1.
How does a daydream brought on by a menial task, like making a tuna sandwich, differ from one that is brought on by reading a book or watching a movie that is full of imagination inspiring stuff that lets your imagination run away with you?
Day dreaming takes an individual away from the real world.. So avoid it.
it is relaxing and keeps me awake !!!!!!!!!
well your not the only one I am always daydreaming and people sometimes wonder why and think my ideas are crazy too. I guess we are gifted LOL!
Yeah it does take you away from the real world. But sometimes in my case and many others that could be a plus. O and how do you avoid daydreaming is that possible. Please tell me how.
Daydreaming helps me to cope with the perils of everyday life. When you’re going through a tough situation it helps you to get away and imagine things differently.
However, despite all the positive aspects of the daydreaming which I am agree on, daydreaming gets sometimes too much my energy. Basically, my minds energy. I should say that I sometimes do it for long time (say an hour or two or even sometimes more!). I have been doing it for a long time. I do have the capability of doing several hard tasks at the same time and I am so successful in my post graduate study and research projects. I do not know how much daydreaming has contributed to the strength on my mind. Any idea about aforementioned issue? Thanks.
if daydreaming can give you more pleasure than the real world, why avoid it??
“O and how do you avoid daydreaming is that possible”
You simply have to participate in activities that require the attention of the mind. Activities which require yourself to think.
Keep with it – it just gets better!
SOME FLOWER THERAPIES CAN REDUCE DAY DREAMING LIKE CLEMATIS (THERE ARE MANY VARIETIES,CHECK WHICH ONE YOU WANT)SOME OTHER METHODS ARE DOING YOGA,MUSIC THERAPY AND EXERCISE.
I participate in sports and school activites. That doesn’t make me stop daydreaming. It is like the best multitasking skill. I can think and have full attention on two different thoughts. Or maybe i’m just crazy.
Im no expert on anything, and I still have yet to find out what daydreaming is; but when I do task, ideas and questions pop into my head. These questions often end up in my next google search. The thought I wanted to leave you with is; if daydreaming was elimintated, where would the spark for new research come from. i.e. you dont just sit down and go hmmmmmmm why do we do this, or imagine if this and this happend… I truely think Daydreaming is essential to science.
day dreaming is tox
which have both of the features keeped
it worth heal us
and on the same time
can push us to a place in where we remember ourselves only and which cannot hurts
there are very few happiness which are as being corrupted are good
and how much i know even being happniess there is none
not a one except
a day dreaming
it is so precious
for every sorrowful heart and a disturbed mind
more than life we life
exactly that much is lived by
from it
could
who are living as a corpse can only have one definition
not to save themselves but to feel
somethings which are missing
in this world which something dangerous is going on
hope you will understand me
its not scientific
still practical as much
I am a day dreamer. Sometimes I wish I could turn it off. When someone is talking to me, I am constantly thinking about something else. While in grade school no one had a clue what was wrong with me. I would just sit their for hours and not accomplish anything. Hell I didn’t know what was wrong with me. I still have problems remembering, and completing daily tasks. Now it’s called ADHD then it was called LAZY.
im a frequent daydreamer/escapist. from a young age 5 or 6 I can remember running around the lounge and comming up with stories to the music i was listening to. Not only was i able to come up with stories but i could also act them out in my mind as the characters from my stories.This ability continued into young adulthood but now i go on the swing in the park and listen to an mp3 player. It seems i have the ability to preseve a world of my creation at will but its esier to do this if the body is in motion while listening to music. the stories made up are based on tv programs just like fanfiction is. i have been trying to find out if theres anyone else like me? and what happens in my brain when this accurs?Is my brain different? or has a childhood ability just not died out yet?So far my search has mostly been futile.
daydreaming is simply a great conenction we have with our real selves in the fact that we need to feel captured in this way away from the boredom and tune into our own minds to tidy and arrange anything we need to address,its the breaking away from reform,its the wanderer on the path to finding a better way forward its the freedom to search through the experience just past or more so beyond the here and now,its the most natural thing we need to do if we are to escape the human chain of puppet following brain dragged society
I think daydreaming is essential for all of us. How is it possible not to daydream?
Most of our internal dialogue is daydreaming. I daydream of getting a new job, but also about what I should do next when a particular task is done and what I should have for dinner.
Isn’t most of our internal dialogue daydreaming? And what do you daydream about ?
there are many people like you and me, small chance you’ll get to meet or find them. The brain is organic, we can only read our own brain. This could be something undiscovered yet which gives people the hard time to explain, just like we don’t know what word to use yet to describe something unknown. Well just relax and be patience to the gift of daydreaming, it’s not something fatal to our health nor illegal to the society.
Just like many other people who have blogged about this subject I also day dream alot during the day. I am not sure if this I am normal or not or if other people experience the same thing, but I often find myself daydreaming throughout the entire day and I have almost started to live in my daydreams more then I have in real life- if that makes sense. I feel like my day dreams have become a big part of my life and who I have become. I also listen to music and come up with stories to go along with it. Usually but not all of the time I tend to day dream about the same things, like being on the beach. I am not sure if other people day dream about the same things all of the time or if it varies also?
It is really amazing the sorts of things our minds can achieve. Daydreaming is really important to, because, it helps us engage our minds in a creative frame, helping imagine different ways to live our lives. Imagine if were weren’t creative? there would be no buildings, no new foods, no fashion, no art, no music, no nothing! We need to daydream, so next time your mind begins to wander, just embrace it. Daydreaming is awesome. (It is the subject for my Year nine speech; fourteen years old and i still cant help my daydreaming *laughs*)
I have a different kind of daydream. It has literally taken over my life. Everytime i see a movie or tv show i imagine myself in it and imagine it to be real. No matter what i see i cant help but day dream. It even goes with books, music, reality shows and real life situations. It’s actually starting to worry me since i lead a pretty normal life. I spend hours awake at night fantasizing and get little sleep. I also day dream about past situations which i have been involved in and i dramatically change them. It’s taking over my life!!
My colleagues and I are studying this phenomenon and have published an article on the topic. We are currently continuing our research by enrolling subjects online in order to further elaborate this type of daydreaming: i.e., daydreaming/fantasizing which is difficult to control, causes distress, and interferes with day-to-day functioning. If you feel you are “dreaming your life away” and would like to fill out our short questionnaire, you can help us define and describe the syndrome and its symptoms, and alert the medical/psychiatric community to a condition that has been largely ignored and might be treatable. All information we receive will be completely confidential.
Sincerely,
Cynthia Schupak, PhD
COPY AND PASTE THIS LINK TO READ OUR PAPER:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/9089146/Excessive-daydreaming: A case history and discussion of mind wandering and high fantasy proneness
its true. but what i believe is one who is unable to accomplish any goal watches daydreams and gets satisfied. please reply in response to it.
I want to get out of daydreaming i spent my time daydreaming since i remember (starting from my childhood)specialy when I just start studing it will just come and i cant stop it for hours i set with my books but just mindwandering. Can anyone pls suject any way out of this called daydream madness
Why would you want to avoid it? What is real? Real is just the perception of out 5 senses. Lucid dreaming is real to me. Just like daydreaming.
I believe thoughts and dreams are the same thing. When we look at somthing the mind tries to make associations and struggles to recognise, often filling in any missing gaps, hmm sounds like dream to me.
Only if the information from our senses remained unfiltered would we be able to experience absolute reality.
we do not experience absolute reality and thus live life as a dream.
Unless you’re in a life or death situation, why should you act as though that the real world is all there is? If everyone was simply a processor of immediate environmental stimuli, the world would be a nightmare, man.
i m feeling the same way u are. I couldnt control myself. I always dream about something whenever i listen music. I want to get rid of it. Sometimes i think i m special but now it is hurting my career. I am not able to focus on my studies.At the time of graduation i was among toppers but now i cant even understand easy topics. My focus is always on other things.
Too much daydreaming can take you away from the real world- but from what is being said it is a natural brain state. No one can be completely concious and alert all the waking day. The mind needs time for relection and meditation.
thats the most ridiculous comment!!!!
i find it very distracting, i do it alot and nowi wonder maybe i am going crazy?! i talk to myself, imagine and find sometimes that when italk during daydreaming my lips move, imgine outside and people see you like that, thats a disaster,am i really going crazy????? can anyone tell me pease.
I am so sick of reading that Maladaptive Daydreaming is beneficial to a person’s life. Last night, I wanted to go to a peotry reading but I couldn’t because my body wanted to daydream/pace. I want this out of me!!!
i just cant stop daydreaming since i was 10 yrs old… i daydream most of the time, i daydream about animes which i like to watch.. i also daydream about games i play while walking and listening to music in my Mp3, where i was the best player, and it makes my day happy, i do that everyday… i think its a gift from god to daydream.. now i am 17yrs old still cant stop daydreaming…
you described me to the fullest.I have daydreamed all my life. It actually takes up majority of my day and i am a nurse case manager. People seem to think im abstract and eccentric in my thinking and actions. However, i think daydreaming just keeps me from becoming a conditioned sheep led by the media and propaganda driven politicians.
try taking bacopa monniera pills. its a herbal medication. I was taking it for my board exam, it decreased my anxiety and it also increased my focus which means I had less daydreaming.
But Im dependent on it now cause Once I stop, I keep on daydreaming, one hint of thought leads to another, I dont even realize that Im daydreaming already.
I think those that want to medicate for daydreaming…there is something wrong. God did not put us on this earth with bottles of pills for each ailment. Daydreaming is a natural state and your brains way of transferring subconcious thought. If you are excessively daydreaming and fantasizing your life to be differently, the likely response is there needs to be some changes in your life. You are probably depressed and your brain is subtly telling you where the changes need to be made. Listen! Problem solving is what the brain does best, even when you are not aware it. If you are day dreaming on your job and being counter-productive you need a new gig. Apparently, your job is not challenging enough and more than likely is not your dream job. It’s not rocket science. We tend to make things more complex than they really are.My son’s teacher thinks he has ADHD because he daydreams. No medical doctor will confirm it (been to 3) and when I ask him he says he is thinking of answers. I was the exact same way as a child. My teachers all said the same thing “She is very bright, she just can’t get her work done because she daydreams.” The work was too easy. They put me in excelerated classes continually through High School. I am a college graduate, but I still found schoolwork to be extremely boring. I still daydream as an adult, but find myself doing it way less when I am actively engaged in something that keeps me mentally stimulated.
Seriously, if I am bored, I can entertain myself for a long time with my made-up stories and characters.
Daydreaming is not a disorder. It’s something special, everyone already had. But in different levels of course. I was daydreaming “real world” when i was child. When I’d grown up, i see that it wasn’t real world at all. It was real world which covered with my imagination. Now I know the difference, real world is not good enough to live as it used to be. So we re-created all the world as imaginary world, recreated the things i don’t like, with a perfect friend.
But I still know there is real world, I just don’t want to come back there again.
I daydream about being this person in Africa, I have a mate, people around me and living the emotions, pain and sorrow in the town. Where in Africa? I do not know. I actually have the fears and visions of things happening. It’s not so bad that I can say it’s caused by stress because I did not experience trauma in my life that I can recall. I was daydreamer in my childhood and as a adult I daydream about traveling when I’m bored in my thoughts to far places.
true
I have come up with the best and craziest ideas that can work but as you sead every one thinks its crazy
Daydreaming is a pleasure that can relieve boredom and stretch our imagination and free up mental tensions. Often when I daydream I feel more refreshed afterwards with an elevation in mood.
Reality is not what we want most of the time and taking a break from the limits and harshness of daily life…some of daydream will not hurt.
Daydreaming only shows us the dream that we want to happen in our real life.or shows us the thing that we are thinking of whole day or mostly
I daydream all the time. Sometimes I actually get sidetracked with daydreaming that I don’t notice that i do things around me. All of it has become habitual. I do have weird and strange ideas ALL the time. Everyone in my family thinks I’m strange but I’m ME. That’s the only way to put it and I’m happy with the way that I am.
yes i do daydream a lot but that doesnt mean that people like us are ADHD-1
I think the difference is that when your daydreaming on during a task the thoughts you have are your own, and they wander wherever your own brain decides to let them go. But when you are watching or reading something you are following along with someone else’s ideas, and the plots of the stories are guiding your mind instead of letting your thoughts drift according to what your subconcious wants you to think about.
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