Daydreamers might solve problems faster: study

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Daydreamers might solve problems faster: study

1 hour ago

VANCOUVER, Canada (AFP) — Contrary to common opinion, daydreaming is not

slacking off because when the brain wanders it is working even harder to solve

problems, new research has shown.

Scientists scanned the brains of people lying inside magnetic resonance imaging

(MRI) machines, as they alternately pushed buttons or rested.

The scans showed that the " default network " deep inside a human brain becomes

more active during daydreaming.

But in a surprise finding the scans also revealed intense activity in the

executive network, the outlying region of the brain associated with complex

problem-solving, neuroscientist Kalina Christoff told AFP.

" People assume that when the mind wanders away it just gets turned off -- but we

show the opposite, that when it wanders, it turns on, " said Christoff, co-author

of the study, and head of a neuroscience laboratory at the University of British

Columbia in Western Canada.

The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,

suggest daydreaming might be a better way to solve problems than intense

focusing.

" People who let themselves daydream might not think in the same focused way as

when performing a goal-oriented task, but they bring in more mental and brain

resources, " said Christoff.

She argued that now people might change their attitudes towards daydreamers.

" Within ourselves, we have absorbed that attitude that mind wandering is a bad

thing. We're harsh on ourselves, if we catch ourselves mind wandering, " she

said.

" A more playful attitude might allow you to call in more resources. "

People typically spend one-third of their waking time daydreaming. " It's a big

part of our lives, but it's been largely ignored by science, " Christoff said.

The study is the first to use MRIs to study brain activity during " spontaneous

thoughts and subjective experiences, " said Christoff.

" Until now the only way was to use self-reports that were not always reliable. "

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[Guest guest]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hf34LG6u3LhZvNjbFWZursJsazXwDaydreamers might solve problems faster: study1 hour ago"VANCOUVER, Canada (AFP) — Contrary to common opinion, daydreaming is not slacking off because when the brain wanders it is working even harder to solve problems, new research has shown."

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"People assume that when the mind wanders away it just gets turned off -- but we show the opposite, that when it wanders, it turns on," said Christoff, co-author of the study, and head of a neuroscience laboratory at the University of British Columbia in Western Canada.

And this is why, to my way of thinking, ABA therapy is harmful to autistics, who are most of the time "in their own little worlds." It distracts autistics from deep thought and forces them to focus on the mundane, thereby irritating autistics and dumbing them down. After all, if their brains are taught NOT to think deeply and problem solve, is that really INCREASING their intelligence?

This goes a long way toward explaining why it is that autistics (1/3 of whom fall in the Above Average to Genius range on the Raven's scale) are said to become more like NTs after ABA "treatment". NTs statistically represent 86% of the "Average IQ" population according to the Ravens IQ scale and only a paltry 7% of the "Above Average" population.

It also makes sense why NTs are so keen on subjecting their autistic kids to ABA therapy. It's because NTs are not intelligent enough to realize they are destroying their autistic children by doing so.

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" Lots of other cases like that. A last example was when I was a kid and a

neighbor, a licensed civil engineer, was sawing a piece of plywood resting atop

two plastic trashcans. He was sawing along and all of a sudden it got much

harder going. He couldn't figure it out, nor could the two other adults nor the

other kids. I simply suggested that he was cutting into a trashcan handle. He

looked at me, then under the plywood and said, " the man's right. " Sure enough,

he was sawing through a handle. Funny thing is, had he done about 5 more strokes

with the saw blade, he'd have been through it. "

I heard a story once about a truck in the Chicagoland area getting stuck under a

viaduct. The tow truck could not figure out how to free it. (Tugging on it

failed to work.)

Some kid standing nearby suggested to a policeman who was directing traffic that

all they needed to do was deflate the tires on the vehicle and back out.

It worked.

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