Apr 24, 2025 11:09 PM
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1080868
INTRO: Mind blanking is a common experience with a wide variety of definitions ranging from feeling “drowsy” to “a complete absence of conscious awareness.”
In an opinion article publishing April 24 in the Cell Press journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences, a team of neuroscientists and philosophers compiles what we know about mind blanking, including insights from their own work observing people’s brain activity.
“During wakefulness, our thoughts transition between different contents. However, there are moments that are seemingly devoid of reportable content, referred to as mind blanking,” writes the research team, which formed as a result of collaboration at the 25th Annual Meeting of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness in Amsterdam in 2022. “It remains unclear what these blanks represent, highlighting the definitional and phenomenological ambiguities surrounding mind blanking.”
In the past, mind blanking has only been studied using research and experiments developed to study mind wandering—a similar internal experience in which our thoughts “flow seamlessly like a stream.” The researchers argue that mind blanking is a distinct experience that involves feeling sleepier, more sluggish, and making more errors, and should be inspired by mind wandering research, but considered independently.
“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,'” explains author Athena Demertzi of GIGA Research at University of Liège, Belgium.
Takeaways from their research include... (MORE - details, no ads)
INTRO: Mind blanking is a common experience with a wide variety of definitions ranging from feeling “drowsy” to “a complete absence of conscious awareness.”
In an opinion article publishing April 24 in the Cell Press journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences, a team of neuroscientists and philosophers compiles what we know about mind blanking, including insights from their own work observing people’s brain activity.
“During wakefulness, our thoughts transition between different contents. However, there are moments that are seemingly devoid of reportable content, referred to as mind blanking,” writes the research team, which formed as a result of collaboration at the 25th Annual Meeting of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness in Amsterdam in 2022. “It remains unclear what these blanks represent, highlighting the definitional and phenomenological ambiguities surrounding mind blanking.”
In the past, mind blanking has only been studied using research and experiments developed to study mind wandering—a similar internal experience in which our thoughts “flow seamlessly like a stream.” The researchers argue that mind blanking is a distinct experience that involves feeling sleepier, more sluggish, and making more errors, and should be inspired by mind wandering research, but considered independently.
“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,'” explains author Athena Demertzi of GIGA Research at University of Liège, Belgium.
Takeaways from their research include... (MORE - details, no ads)