Mind Blanking : Where Is My Mind?

"Mind blanking [is a mental state unlike a lapse of attention or wandering mind]."

"Our minds go nowhere because they seem to lack content."

"When the brain is in a high- or low-arousal state, a mind blank is more likely to occur." 

"[A part of the brain appears asleep], which may represent a state of 'local sleep', rather than outright sleep."

"The experience of a 'blank mind' is as intimate and direct as that of bearing thoughts."

Research team comprised of neuroscientists and philosophers

A new study reveals intriguing insights into what happens when your mind goes blank. Researchers discovered that brain activity doesn’t stop; instead, it enters a state resembling “local sleep. The Economist

A new review challenges the assumption that people experience a constant flow of thought in their daily lives, contending through experimentation that the human mind absolutely can go 'blank' during conscious periods throughout the course of a day. A condition that may be slightly familiar to some, as when an individual is seen seeming to stare ahead as though arrested in thought,, eyes blank and when  they're asked 'what are you thinking?', become startled out of what seems like an absent moment, to which the response is invariably, 'nothing'. 

According to new research, moments occur when the human mind appears empty of content, when people are thinking of nothing at all. A newly explored and distinct mental state identified as "mind blanking".  Researchers report that mind blanking has a tendency to occur toward the end of long and demanding tasks requiring attention, such as exams; when people are sleep-deprived; or following an intense workout. So then, mind blanking is characterized as a common, daily phenomenon with links to states of arousal.

 

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The brain shows signs of 'deactivation' and an increase in sleep-like slow brain waves during a reported mind blank, when heart rates and pupil size decrease. The researchers speak of the experience as a "lack of conscious awareness", during which "the individual is not focally aware of any stimuli, either internal or external"; a potentially dangerous state should it occur during high-risk, inopportune moments, such as when driving a vehicle.

 

In experiments, people report feeling sleepier and more sluggish, leading to more errors on attention tasks moment prior to their minds wandering off "nowhere". Some individuals appear never to experience mind blanking, while adults and children with ADHD (attention deficient hyperactivity disorder) can frequently report the experience. One of the core symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder is that of "mind going blank". It can be related to strokes, seizures, traumatic brain injury and an "ultrarare" sleep disorder affecting teenage boys primarily, causing them to sleep up to 20 hours daily. 

What those 'blanks' represent is not entirely clear. However, "We sought to better understand mind blanking by parsing through 80 relevant research articles -- including some of our own in which we recorded participants' brain activity when they were reporting that they were 'thinking of nothing'", explained Athena Demertzi, of the University of Liege, Belgium. With a better understanding of what's occurring in the brain, an interesting strategy for dealing with anxiety negative thoughts or other unpleasant emotions could follow.

 

The review, under the title "Where is my mind? A neurocognitive investigation of mind blanking"  was published in the Cell Press journal, Trends in Cognitive Science. 

Buddhist monks meditate during Vesak Day on the steps of the Wat Phra Dhammakaya temple in Thailand.SOPA Images (SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

"'I think, therefore I am' and 'I am, therefore I think'; channelling Descartes' Cogito; ergo sum goes both ways.""

"We challenge the latter by showing that people can be conscious without thinking about something in particular."

"Most of the time, by definition, mind blanking will go unnoticed, since there is no content associated with it. We didn't realize there was a blank."

"But sometimes, there are moments in your everyday life where we can introspect a bit about our own stream of thoughts and we can notice that there has been a gap [as when people walk into a room unable to recall how they got there, or why they're there].

"It's pretty frequent in everyday life."

"[There are moment during the day where parts of the brain start showing signs of sleeping, resulting in gaps and moments of mind blanking."

Study lead author Thomas Andrillon, cognitive neuroscientist, Paris Brain Institute