03-28-2007, 12:15 PM
Researchers find we're off in another world 15 to 20 per cent of the time.
by Chris Zdeb
The Edmonton Journal; The Associated Press
EDMONTON - Ever driven to work on autopilot, not remembering parts of the drive? You're not alone. Everybody daydreams or has their mind wander from the task at hand, and having it happen while driving is the quintessential example, says Jonathan Schooler, a psychology professor at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
A scary thought.
So is the idea of an air traffic controller, someone operating machinery or a brain surgeon not being totally focused on what they're doing.
The psychological phenomenon hasn't been studied much, but it's gaining attention with the realization that mind wandering has major applications for how people perform just about everything they do.
"For example, the frequency with which individuals' minds wander while reading is highly correlated with their reading comprehension. So the more students are mind-wandering the less they comprehend -- a major source of reading comprehension difficulty that had been largely overlooked by the education community," Schooler explains.
His research has found that people's minds wander less when they're reading something interesting or if they're more engaged, for instance if they're doing brain surgery, or performing on a stage before an audience.
People are unaware that they're daydreaming, something Schooler found when he included gibberish in text he had students read. They read it not comprehending it was gibberish.
Even when they were paid to try and catch as much gibberish as they could in the text, they couldn't stay on task, he says, which suggests we may not have as much control over daydreaming as we think we have.
Episodes of mind wandering are brief, usually lasting five to 10 seconds, although they can last for minutes. But people's minds wander 15 to 20 per cent of the time, says Schooler, which definitely means it compromises our performance.
Michael Kane, a psychologist at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro randomly sampled the thoughts of students eight times a day for a week and found they weren't thinking about what they were doing 30 per cent of the time. For some it was as high as 80 and 90 per cent of the time.
It's possible that there's more mind wandering going on today, Schooler says.
"We don't have the kind of data to speak to that, but because we are so used to highly stimulating environments, our threshold for how much stimulation we're expecting has increased.
"It certainly seems quite plausible that mind wandering could be on the rise because we're more likely to find mundane tasks dull relative to all the stimulation that we now expect in life."
Most daydreaming is mundane and involves thinking about the future or recollection, Schooler says.
"But that's not to say that it's not useful, because many of the things we need to think about in life are relatively mundane in the sense of being pertinent to what's going on in our lives at that particular moment.
"We also think it may also be a source of creativity for people," Schooler says.
Individuals diagnosed with attention deficit disorder tend to experience more mind wandering.
Older people's minds wander less. Schooler explains this may have something to do with the fact that mind wandering seems to entail having an excess of available resources .
"So basically whatever the task is, it's not engaging you sufficiently so you have extra resources so you engage in mind wandering," he says. "Regrettably, our working memory capacity decreases as we age and there's less extra resources available for mind wandering."
Eastern contemplative traditions say the mind can be taught to focus, so Schooler is in the process of studying whether or not meditation may reduce mind wandering. He's also looking at various ways to measure brain activity associated with daydreaming including whether or not people's eyes move differently when they're reading and their minds start to wander.
Finding ways to keep people's minds on what they're doing, especially on the road, could have some big repercussions, Schooler says.
[email protected]
PAYING ATTENTION
Here are some tips to minimize mind-wandering, gleaned from websites of student-counselling centres and elsewhere.
When reading:
- Avoid windows with a tempting view.
- Take short, scheduled breaks. Stretch, stand, walk around, get a drink of water.
- Create mental pictures from the material you're reading.
- If using a computer, shut off the e-mail and messaging programs.
In general:
- If some matter of concern is keeping you from concentrating, do something about it -- even if it's just a first step -- or decide on a course and time of action. Just making a list of things to do can help unclutter your mind.
- If your mind wanders while listening, shift your body position and try to focus anew.
http://www.canada.com/saskatoon/news/story.html?id=b8d7298b-df00-4787-97eb-8019abd1a708&k=48054&p=1
by Chris Zdeb
The Edmonton Journal; The Associated Press
EDMONTON - Ever driven to work on autopilot, not remembering parts of the drive? You're not alone. Everybody daydreams or has their mind wander from the task at hand, and having it happen while driving is the quintessential example, says Jonathan Schooler, a psychology professor at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
A scary thought.
So is the idea of an air traffic controller, someone operating machinery or a brain surgeon not being totally focused on what they're doing.
The psychological phenomenon hasn't been studied much, but it's gaining attention with the realization that mind wandering has major applications for how people perform just about everything they do.
"For example, the frequency with which individuals' minds wander while reading is highly correlated with their reading comprehension. So the more students are mind-wandering the less they comprehend -- a major source of reading comprehension difficulty that had been largely overlooked by the education community," Schooler explains.
His research has found that people's minds wander less when they're reading something interesting or if they're more engaged, for instance if they're doing brain surgery, or performing on a stage before an audience.
People are unaware that they're daydreaming, something Schooler found when he included gibberish in text he had students read. They read it not comprehending it was gibberish.
Even when they were paid to try and catch as much gibberish as they could in the text, they couldn't stay on task, he says, which suggests we may not have as much control over daydreaming as we think we have.
Episodes of mind wandering are brief, usually lasting five to 10 seconds, although they can last for minutes. But people's minds wander 15 to 20 per cent of the time, says Schooler, which definitely means it compromises our performance.
Michael Kane, a psychologist at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro randomly sampled the thoughts of students eight times a day for a week and found they weren't thinking about what they were doing 30 per cent of the time. For some it was as high as 80 and 90 per cent of the time.
It's possible that there's more mind wandering going on today, Schooler says.
"We don't have the kind of data to speak to that, but because we are so used to highly stimulating environments, our threshold for how much stimulation we're expecting has increased.
"It certainly seems quite plausible that mind wandering could be on the rise because we're more likely to find mundane tasks dull relative to all the stimulation that we now expect in life."
Most daydreaming is mundane and involves thinking about the future or recollection, Schooler says.
"But that's not to say that it's not useful, because many of the things we need to think about in life are relatively mundane in the sense of being pertinent to what's going on in our lives at that particular moment.
"We also think it may also be a source of creativity for people," Schooler says.
Individuals diagnosed with attention deficit disorder tend to experience more mind wandering.
Older people's minds wander less. Schooler explains this may have something to do with the fact that mind wandering seems to entail having an excess of available resources .
"So basically whatever the task is, it's not engaging you sufficiently so you have extra resources so you engage in mind wandering," he says. "Regrettably, our working memory capacity decreases as we age and there's less extra resources available for mind wandering."
Eastern contemplative traditions say the mind can be taught to focus, so Schooler is in the process of studying whether or not meditation may reduce mind wandering. He's also looking at various ways to measure brain activity associated with daydreaming including whether or not people's eyes move differently when they're reading and their minds start to wander.
Finding ways to keep people's minds on what they're doing, especially on the road, could have some big repercussions, Schooler says.
[email protected]
PAYING ATTENTION
Here are some tips to minimize mind-wandering, gleaned from websites of student-counselling centres and elsewhere.
When reading:
- Avoid windows with a tempting view.
- Take short, scheduled breaks. Stretch, stand, walk around, get a drink of water.
- Create mental pictures from the material you're reading.
- If using a computer, shut off the e-mail and messaging programs.
In general:
- If some matter of concern is keeping you from concentrating, do something about it -- even if it's just a first step -- or decide on a course and time of action. Just making a list of things to do can help unclutter your mind.
- If your mind wanders while listening, shift your body position and try to focus anew.
http://www.canada.com/saskatoon/news/story.html?id=b8d7298b-df00-4787-97eb-8019abd1a708&k=48054&p=1