PARTS of the brain really do switch off when you are daydreaming or have a mind blank, boffins reveal. It could explain why you zone out while watching a dull TV show or cannot recall where you left your keys. The study of people doing boring tasks showed it was possible for bits of the […]
PARTS of the brain really do switch off when you are daydreaming or have a mind blank, boffins reveal.
It could explain why you zone out while watching a dull TV show or cannot recall where you left your keys.
The study of people doing boring tasks showed it was possible for bits of the brain to go to sleep independently of each other.
Prof Thomas Andrillon, of the Paris Brain Institute, said his team noticed different parts of the brain emitting slow waves — indicating they had gone to sleep — while the person was still awake.
He said: “Slow waves in frontal brain areas preceded daydreaming and impulsive behaviour.
“Whereas when they occurred in regions further back in the brain it was followed by mind blanking and slow responsiveness.”
“A common neural signature occurring in different brain regions precedes different conscious states.”
The study monitored the brain waves of adults while they focused on images of faces or numbers and pressed a button in response to facial expressions or digits.
Participants were interrupted at random moments and asked if they were daydreaming or mind-blanking.
