If you just stare in front of yourself and don’t seem to think about anything – what exactly is happening in your head? A research team provides information.
Sometimes you are mentally absent even when you are wide awake. You let your thoughts wander, forget your surroundings and often get a stare. If someone returns from this state to the moment, he or she can usually no longer say exactly what their thoughts were about. A research team from the Belgian University of Liège has investigated what happens in the brain in a state of this so-called mind blanking.
36 test subjects lay in a brain scanner with their eyes open. At random intervals they heard a noise. Then they were asked to say what they were thinking about or what they were paying attention to. Only a few said they felt completely empty in their heads.
In these few test subjects, the researchers took a closer look at the brain activity using artificial intelligence. According to the results, there is a specific pattern for mind blanking. This means that different brain regions work more synchronously than usual. The researchers speak of “ultra-connectivity”.
Why do people experience mind blanking?
According to GEO Magazine, mind blanking occurs primarily when you are tired. After a strenuous day that required a lot of concentration, people often let their thoughts wander and don’t 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. Ultimately, it cannot be confirmed with certainty that the test subjects were actually in a state of mind blanking at the time of the noise. Maybe they were simply not attentive enough and therefore couldn’t say exactly whether they really weren’t thinking about anything or whether they 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 may indicate how sleep and wakefulness 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 is more common when someone is sleep deprived.
Tips for a good night’s sleep
To generally sleep well, 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: This is how it works
Sources: Université de Liège (PNAS), GEO, Spektrum, Nature (2021), Thomas Andrillon
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