Mind Wandering

Daydreaming is a short-term detachment from one's immediate surroundings, during which a person's contact with reality is blurred and partially substituted by a visionary fantasy, especially one of happy, pleasant thoughts, hopes or ambitions, imagined as coming to pass, and experienced while awake. There are many types of daydreams, and there is no consistent definition amongst psychologists, however the characteristic that is common to all forms of daydreaming meets the criteria for mild dissociation. Read more

1. You Daydream Less With Age
2. Your Method Of Dreaming Also Changes Over Time
3. Your Brain Changes When You Daydream
4. Daydreams Help Your Brain Talk To Itself
5. You Lose Track Of Things When You Daydream
6. Children And Teens Need To Daydream
7. Stress Causes More Daydreams
8. Many People Daydream About The Same Things
9. Daydreaming Doesn't Make You Flighty
10. Daydreaming Is Good For You - It relaxes the mind
11. Daydreaming Can Reduce Stress
12. Daydreaming Refocuses the Mind Away From the Emotions

Daydreaming is good: It means you're smart   Science Daily - October 24, 2017

A new study from the Georgia Institute of Technology suggests that daydreaming during meetings isn't necessarily a bad thing. It might be a sign that you're really smart and creative. Those who reported more frequent daydreaming scored higher on intellectual and creative ability and had more efficient brain systems measured in the MRI machine

Not all mind wandering is created equal   Science Daily - March 30, 2016
Most research looking at mind wandering has assumed that all mind wandering is inherently unintentional, but findings from a new study suggest otherwise: People frequently report zoning out on purpose, and the causes of this 'intentional' type of mind wandering can differ from the causes of unintentional mind wandering.

Daydreaming Really Works the Brain   Live Science - May 13, 2009
Contrary to the notion that daydreaming is a sign of laziness, letting the mind wander can actually let the parts of the brain associated with problem-solving become active, a new study finds. Kalina Christoff of the University of British Columbia in Canada and her colleagues placed study participants inside an fMRI scanner, where they performed the simple routine task of pushing a button when numbers appear on a screen. The researchers tracked subjects' attentiveness moment-to-moment through brain scans, subjective reports from subjects and by tracking their performance on the task.

'Daydreaming' brain is coma clue BBC - June 13, 2008
Researchers may have found a way to predict whether severely brain-damaged patients will regain consciousness. A part of the brain which can stay active even in severely brain-damaged patients could offer a clue about the chances of recovery, they claim.

Mind Wandering