Page 78 - Javanan Magazine Issue # 1886

PSYCHOLOGICAL
PSYCHOLOGICAL ISSUE No. 1885
ISSUE No. 1856
PERSPECTIVES JAVANAN
PERSPECTIVES
JAVANAN
Dr. Alan A.
Modarressi LOGICAL PERSPECTIVES
Clinical and A SOCIOCULTURAL AND MIND AND BODY OUTLOOK
Neuro-Psychologyst
In this column, we examine the mental health issues in the context
of social, culture, and physiological concerns of the Iranian community
NEUROPSYCHOLOGCAL ASPECTS OF DAYDREAMING

The Dark Side of Chronic Daydreaming

recent study funded by the activity that resembles sleep while could predict episodes of mind wan- plain a broad range of attentional
Human Frontier Science most of the brain appears clearly dering and mind blanking as well lapses, from mind-wandering and
A Program and the National awake. This phenomenon, known as changes in participants’ behavior impulsivity to “going blank” and
Health and Medical Research Coun- as “local sleep”, was first seen in during these lapses of attention. sluggishness.
cil looked into what Is Daydreaming sleep-deprived animals and then in Importantly, the location of slow Traumatic Stress in Childhood
and how the brain functions as we humans. waves distinguished whether par- Can Lead to Brain Changes in
daydream. The study was aimed at investi- ticipants were mind wandering or Adulthood. Furthermore, our results
Our attention is a powerful lens, gating whether local sleep might blanking. When slow waves oc- suggest that local sleep might repre-
allowing our brains to pick out the also happen in well-rested people, curred in the front of the brain, sent an everyday phenomenon that
relevant details out of the over- and whether it could trigger shifts in participants had the tendency to be can affect us all, even if we are not
whelming flow of information attention. more impulsive and to mind wan- particularly sleep-deprived. Our par-
reaching us every second. To better understand the relation- der. When slow waves occurred in ticipants were simply going about
However, scientists estimate we ship between brain activity and laps- the back of the brain, participants the task at hand. Yet, without real-
spend up to half our waking lives es of attention, they asked healthy were more sluggish, missed re- izing it, parts of their brains seemed
thinking about something other than young volunteers to perform a rather sponses and mind blanked. to go offline repeatedly throughout
the task at hand: our minds are wan- boring task requiring continuous at- These results can easily be under- the experiment.
dering. This is striking considering tention. As anticipated, their atten- stood through the concept of local Scientists are currently exploring
the potential negative consequences, tion frequently shifted away from sleep. If sleep-like slow waves re- whether this phenomenon of local
from decreased school or work per- the task. And when their attention ally do correspond to local bouts of sleep could be exacerbated in some
formance to tragic traffic accidents. lapsed, their performance decreased. sleep, in people who are otherwise individuals. For example, most
We also know that mind-wan- But we also wanted to know what awake, the effect of the slow waves people suffering from attentional
dering and lapses of attention are exactly was going through their should depend on where they occur deficits and/or hyperactivity disor-
more common when we are sleep- minds when their attention was not in the brain and the function of those ders (ADHD) also report disrupted
deprived, which suggests they may on the task. So, they interrupted brain regions as we have found. sleep. This may result in an increase
happen when the neurons in our them at random intervals and asked This suggests that a single phe- in local sleep episodes during the
brain start behaving in a way that re- them what they were thinking about nomenon – local sleep intrusions day and could explain part of their
sembles sleep. They tested the rela- at that moment. during waking hours – could ex- attentional problems.
tionship between sleep and lapses of Participants could indicate wheth-
attention in new research published er they were focusing on the task,
in Nature Communications. their mind was wandering (think-
By monitoring people’s brain- ing about something other than the
waves against their self-reported task), or their mind was blank (not
states of attention, we found that thinking about anything at all).
mind-wandering seems to happen In parallel, they recorded their
when parts of the brain fall asleep brain activity with an electroenceph-
while most of it remains awake. alogram, which consists of a set of
Directing our attention inwards sensors placed on the head that can
can be very useful. It can let us focus monitor the rhythms of the brain.
on our inner thoughts, manipulate Thanks to this non-invasive brain
abstract concepts, retrieve memo- imaging technique, we could search
ries, or discover creative solutions. for signs of sleep within wakeful-
But the ideal balance between fo- ness during the entire task.
cusing on the outer and inner worlds In particular they focused on “slow
is hard to strike, and our ability to waves”, a hallmark of sleep involv-
stay focused on a given task is sur- ing brief silences from assemblies
prisingly limited. of neurons. Our hypothesis was that
When we get tired, our control these lapses in neuron activity could
of attention goes awry. At the same explain lapses in attention.
time, our brains starts showing local They found local slow waves

DANESH FOROUGHI, PH.D. Alan Modarressi, PhD, QME
Licensed Clinical Psychologist, PSY13680 Licensed Clinical Psychologist
Licensed Marriage, Family & Child Psychotherapist, MFC23455 Qualified Medical Evaluator
Certified National Board of Addiction Examiners #4974 Certified Psychophsychologist
Tel: (310) 940-3642 Diplomat, American Academy of Pain Management
15720 Ventura Blvd., Second Fl. #224 Encino CA 91436 (818) 501-6080 (562) 861-7226

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