Humans are a daydreaming species. According to a study by Harvard psychologists, people let their minds wander 47% of the time they are awake. 

This might seem like a confirmation of our inherent laziness. In a culture obsessed with efficiency, mind-wandering is often derided as useless, the kind of thinking we rely on when we don’t really want to think. Freud, for instance, described daydreams as “infantile” and a means of escaping from the necessary chores of the world into fantasies of “wish-fulfillment.”

In recent years, however, psychologists and neuroscientists have redeemed this mental state, revealing the ways in which mind-wandering is an essential cognitive tool. It turns out that whenever we are slightly bored or when reality isn’t quite enough for us we begin exploring our own associations, contemplating counterfactuals and fictive scenarios that only exist within the head.

A daydream is that fountain spurting, spilling strange new thoughts into the stream of consciousness. And these spurts turn out to be surprisingly useful.

Scientists argue that their data show why “creative solutions may be facilitated specifically by simple external tasks that maximize mind-wandering.” The benefit of these simple tasks is that they consume just enough attention to keep us occupied, while leaving plenty of mental resources left over for errant daydreams. 

If this sounds like scientific justification for afternoon naps, long showers, and literature break, you’re right. We always assume that you get more done when you’re consciously paying attention to a problem. But this is often a mistake. If you’re trying to solve a complex problem, then you need to give yourself a real break, to let the mind incubate the problem all by itself. We shouldn’t be so afraid to actually take some time off.

A daydream is just a means of eavesdropping on those novel thoughts generated by the unconscious. We think we’re wasting time, but, actually, an intellectual fountain really is spurting.

Dream Away

Source: https://www.newyorker.com/tech/frontal-cortex/the-virtues-of-daydreaming/

Share to your circles!