When you just stare into space and don’t seem to be thinking about anything, what exactly is going on in your head? A research team provides some insight.
Sometimes, even when you are wide awake, you are internally absent. You let your thoughts wander, forget your surroundings and often get a blank stare. If someone returns from this state to the moment, he or she can usually no longer say exactly what the thoughts were about. A research team from the Belgian Université de Liège has investigated what happens in the brain in this state of so-called mind blanking.
For this study, 36 test subjects lay in a brain scanner with their eyes open. At random intervals, they heard a noise. They were then asked to state what they had just been thinking about or what they had just focused their attention on. Only a very few said that their heads were completely empty.
The researchers used artificial intelligence to take a closer look at brain activity in these few test subjects. According to the results, there is a specific pattern for mind blanking. Different brain regions work more synchronously than usual during this process. The researchers speak of “ultra-connectivity”.
Why do people experience mind blanking?
According to GEO Magazine, mind blanking occurs primarily when one is tired. After a strenuous day that requires a lot of concentration, people often let their thoughts wander and do not focus their attention on anything specific.
According to the researchers, the fact that people then feel a certain emptiness in their heads is probably due to the fact that people find it very difficult to add new information to their consciousness during mind blanking.
However, according to the science magazine Spektrum, there are also doubts about the validity of the study. After all, it cannot be confirmed with certainty that the test subjects were actually in a state of mind blanking at the time of the noise. It is also possible that they were simply not paying enough attention and therefore could not say exactly whether they really weren’t thinking about anything or were just daydreaming.
Mind Blanking and Sleep
According to GEO, the current study is not the first study to take a closer look at mind blanking. Researchers from Melbourne, Australia, found in 2021 that slower waves occurred in the brains of healthy, young people during mind blanking. These slow brain waves are also a characteristic feature of the sleep phase.
According to contributing researcher Thomas Andrillon, these results could indicate how sleep and wake phases are mixed in our brains on a daily basis. People are not always necessarily either asleep or awake, but can exhibit characteristics of both states in different brain regions at the same time.
However, if mind blanking occurs at the wrong moment, it can have dramatic consequences. People can also experience the phenomenon during an exam or a presentation. According to Andrillon, it occurs more frequently when someone is sleep deprived.
Tips for a good night’s sleep
To sleep well in general, here are a few helpful articles:
- Why sleeping on your stomach is unhealthy
- Slept too much? The symptoms and what you can do
- Sleeping naked: healthy or unhygienic?
- Evening routine: 12 good tips for better sleep
- Melatonin: Does taking it really help you fall asleep?
- Meditation to fall asleep: How to do it
Sources: Université de Liège (PNAS), GEO, Spektrum, Nature (2021), Thomas Andrillon
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