Brain Fitness NewsWandering Attention May Be Blamed On Normal Brain Cell Set-up!
In a trend of scientific study that may very well shed light on not only the problem of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder but also short attention spans as well as shortfalls in productivity across the general population, a University of North Carolina at Greensboro research team (among several University teams) is studying the problem of 'Mind-Wandering'.
Mind-Wandering (or, mental wandering, wandering mind, drifting, daydreaming, etc.) is a cognitive phenomenon in the brain wherein one's attention becomes distracted from the task at hand and one's mind strays into unrelated thoughts, often for long periods of time. Thoughts can include reliving or regrets about the past, fantasizing or worrying about the future, or simply enjoying imaginary moments away from whatever task one is supposed to be carrying out.
Though most of the activities in which people engage in Mind-Wandering result in nothing more harmful than misplaced keys, lost productivity, or bad customer service, many people habitually drift mentally during situations that can sometimes be extremely hazardous to do so, such as when driving an automobile.
The personal costs of a continually wandering mind can negatively impact your ability to achieve goals efficiently, boost your career, enhance your bank account, our and enrich your relationships. Because what we experience during mental drift tends not to be consciously controlled, it can have a significant effect on our entire mental and emotional life. In worst-case scenarios, Mind-Wandering results in destruction of property, injury to other people, and even worse tragedy.
Using modern neurological scanning technologies such as Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), neuro-scientists are mapping areas of the brain which appear to correspond physically to the mental experience of Mind-Wandering. Harvard's Massachusetts General Hospital researchers have indicated their studies point to the same areas of the brain which are active when a person is not tasked with doing anything in particular (which might be referred to as the 'lazy zone').
UNC psychologist Dr. Michael Kane used the process of Thought Sampling (asking participants what they are thinking about at any given moment) in research studies involving 126 students at eight random times a day for a week. The average Mind-Wandering sample tends to be at least 30% of the time, with a minority of students demonstrating less that 20% - estimates of 40% or more during the average day have been shown.
This research may demonstrate that the average person suffers from mental wandering upwards of 30% to 40% of their waking day, from the moment they awaken from sleep up until they fall back into slumber, and are mostly unaware during such times as their mind is drifting. The means that the average person may be missing out on as much as 1/3 of their waking life because their attention and perception are swept away in uncontrolled thought!