Wandering Mind: What Is It And What Effects Does It Have?

We perform thousands of actions automatically every day. It is natural that this happens, since it is impossible to rationalize every single activity. However, we sometimes allow our minds to wander as we perform tasks that require special attention. Let’s do one thing and think of another. This scattered attention is called the wandering mind. 

The wandering mind is that thought that is interposed between the concrete situation we are experiencing and the ideas that circulate in our head. They range from simple blurry attention to true reverie. It occurs when we are a little distracted and when we daydream.

Faced with this phenomenon, there are different positions. Some evidence shows that the wandering mind has negative effects on the intellect and emotions. Others, however, demonstrate that daydreaming contributes to our well-being. There is no complete agreement; let’s see why.

A Harvard Study of the Wandering Mind

Two Harvard University researchers, Matthew Killingsworth and Daniel Glibert, conducted a study whose central question was: What are the great reasons for happiness?

Through an application, they asked thousands of people around the world to answer some questions for a certain period of time. Questions could come at any time of the day and participants had to answer right away.

They essentially focused on three aspects. The first, how they felt. The second, what they were doing. The third, if they were thinking of something other than what they were doing. The results show that 47% of the participants were almost always busy doing something, but had their heads somewhere else.

The most surprising aspect of the research is that it would be possible to establish a correlation between wandering mind and unhappiness. According to the researchers, when the mind wanders, thoughts are usually unpleasant. Those who stay focused on the present are happier and less worried.

Advantages of the wandering mind

A study published by Israel’s Bar Ilán University appears to have come to a different conclusion. In this case the technique used was the application of an electrical stimulus on the frontal lobe. Researchers had previously discovered that this stimulus was capable of causing dream states.

During the application of the stimulus, participants were asked to perform specific tasks. To everyone’s surprise, after the dream state, the volunteers performed the required activities more efficiently. 

According to the researchers, mechanical activities lead to distraction more easily. On the contrary, daydreams, paradoxically, awaken cognitive activity. This is the reason why the participants performed their tasks better after the stimulus that estranged them from the real context, which was boring for them.

What conclusions?

The two studies may not be as contradictory as it would seem at first glance. Current consciousness could be the determining factor when we are focused and when we leave the mind free to wander. In other words, the wandering mind could play for or against us depending on how we channel it.

Concentration is an exercise by which thought is applied to a specific content. It means that the cognitive functions are directed on a specific object. This is a fundamental function to accomplish some tasks well, especially when they require a high level of abstraction.

As the Harvard study points out, if this is not achieved, interference appears which ends up generating concern. But it is also true that continuous concentration makes you tired. It is proven that the mind needs more pauses to work properly.

Following this, either we allow ourselves these breaks voluntarily or our mind will do it, distracting itself. Concentration and wandering mind, therefore, seem to be complementary and not in contradiction. Each of the two functions adds and subtracts, depending on the circumstances.