On a daily basis, you spend between a third and half your waking hours daydreaming. That may sound like a huge waste of time, but scientists think it must have some purpose, or humans wouldn’t have evolved to do so much of it. So to figure out what's going on here, let’s take a closer look at the mind-wanderer in chief: the bored teenager.
Na dnevnoj bazi provodite između trećine i polovine svog budnog vremena sanjareći. To možda zvuči kao pravo traćenje vremena, ali naučnici misle da ovo mora imati neku svrhu, jer ljudi ne bi evoluirali da to čine u ovolikoj meri. Da bismo shvatili šta se ovde dešava, hajde da pažljivije pogledamo glavnog sanjara: tindejdžera koji se dosađuje.
Wouldn’t it be cool to discover something, anything. Like even this plant. Just to be one of those explorers who sails around drawing stuff for years on end and everyone thinks they’re a genius. But does anyone even do that anymore? Is there anything left to discover? And would I be tough enough to deal with the dysentery or scurvy or piranhas or whatever? I barely have the endurance to make it through track practice... but I will. Any day now, I’ll have the discipline to show up before sunrise and practice. I’ll win all my races. Winning will become so easy, I’ll pick up other events just for fun. And once I'm in the Olympics, they’ll have no choice but to crown me team captain, which I will graciously accept. And will I be nasty to the teammate who yelled at me? No. I’ll just calmly say, “hope you’re in a better mood.”
Zar ne bi bilo kul otkriti nešto, bilo šta? Na primer, čak i ovu biljku. Prosto biti jedan od onih istraživača koji plove naokolo i crtaju godinama i godinama i svi misle da su geniji. Međutim, da li to iko više radi? Je li uopšte ostalo nešto da se otkrije? I da li bih bila jaka da se nosim sa dizenterijom ili skorbutom ili piranama ili čime god? Jedva mogu da izdržim da dovršim trening trčanja... ali ću to učiniti. Ubrzo ću biti disciplinovana da se pojavim pre zore i da vežbam. Pobediću na svim trkama. Pobeđivanje će postati tako lako da ću se takmičiti iz puke zabave. A kada dođem do Olimpijade, neće imati izbora nego da me proglase kapitenom tima, što ću ljubazno prihvatiti. I da li ću uzvratiti saigraču koji je vikao na mene? Ne. Samo ću mirno reći: „Nadam se da si raspoloženiji”.
Okay. Yours and other people's daydreams might sound or feel something like that. Let's see what was going on. To see what parts of the brain are active when you’re doing a task, or thinking, or daydreaming, scientists use brain imaging techniques that show increased blood flow and energy expenditure in those areas.
U redu. Vaša i sanjarenja drugih možda zvuče ili liče na ovo. Hajde da vidimo šta se to dešava. Da bismo videli koji deo mozga je aktivan kada obavljate neki zadatak, mislite ili sanjarite, naučnici koriste tehnike skeniranja mozga koje pokazuju povećanu cirklulaciju i rashod energije u datim oblastima.
These brain areas are active, working together and communicating with each other. Taken together, they're called the executive network. When your mind starts to wander, a different set of brain areas becomes active. These areas make up the default mode network. The name default mode makes it sound like nothing is going on. And in fact, for many years, scientists associated this pattern of activity with rest. But a closer look reveals that these are the brain areas involved when we revisit a memory, when we think about our plans and hopes, and yes, when our minds are wandering off on a wild daydream. The mind can wander to unproductive or distressing places and brood over negative past events, like an argument. It can also wander to neutral, everyday matters, like planning out the rest of one's afternoon. But where mind-wandering really gets interesting is when it crosses into the realm of free-moving associative thought that you aren’t consciously directing. This kind of mind-wandering is associated with increases in both ideas and positive emotions, and the evidence suggests that daydreaming can help people envision ways to reach their goals and navigate relationships and social situations.
Ova područja mozga su aktivna, rade zajedno i komuniciraju međusobno. Zajedno se nazivaju izvršna mreža. Kada vaš um počne da luta, različiti delovi mozga postaju aktivni. Ovi delovi čine mrežu podrazumevanog načina rada. Podrazumevani način rada zvuči kao da se ništa ne dešava. I zapravo, tokom mnogo godina, naučnici su povezivali ovaj obrazac aktivnosti sa odmaranjem. Ali pažljiviji pogled otkriva da su ovo delovi mozga koji su aktivni kada se prisećamo uspomene, kada mislimo o našim planovima i nadama i, da, kada naš um odluta u uzbudljivo sanjarenje. Um može odlutati na neproduktivna ili uznemirujuća mesta i fokusirati se na negativne uspomene, kao što su svađe. Takođe može odlutati do neutralnih, svakodnevnih mesta, kao što je planiranje ostatka popodneva. Ali sanjarenje postaje zaista zanimljivo kada pređe u formu slobodne asocijativne misli kojom ne upravljate svesno. Ova vrsta sanjarenja je vezana i za porast ideja i pozitivnih osećanja, a dokazi upućuju na to da sanjarenje može pomoći ljudima da zamisle načine da ostvare svoje ciljeve i upravljaju vezama i društvenim situacijama.
Scientists think there may be two essential parts to this process: a generative phase of free-flowing ideas and spontaneous thoughts, courtesy of the default mode network, followed by a process of selecting, developing, and pursuing the best ideas from that generative burst, driven by logical thinking thanks to the executive network. A host of imaging studies suggest that these two networks working in sync is a crucial condition for creative thinking. Taken together, the evidence clearly suggests the logical realm of the executive network and the imaginative realm of the default mode network are closely related. And as you can see, the executive network is still playing a role when the default mode network is doing its thing during daydreaming.
Naučnici misle da bi se ovaj proces mogao sastojati od dva bitna dela: generativne faze slobodnih ideja i spontanih misli, zaslugom mreže podrazumevanog rada, praćene procesom odabira, razvoja i traženja najboljih ideja iz date generativne bujice, vođene logičkim razmišljanjem zahvaljujući izvršnoj mreži. Gomila istraživanja slika mozga sugerišu da ove dve mreže rade sinhronizovano što je presudan uslov za kreativno razmišljanje. Posmatrani zajedno, dokazi jasno pokazuju da su logički deo izvršne mreže i maštoviti deo mreže podrazumevanog načina rada usko povezani. I kao što možete videti, izvršna mreža je i dalje aktivna kada mreža podrazumevanog načina rada radi svoje tokom sanjarenja.
In teenagers, the prefrontal cortex and other areas involved in executive function are still developing, but teens are perfectly capable of thinking through their problems and goals, especially when given space to do so on their own.
Kod tinejdžera, prefrontalni korteks i druga područja uključena u izvršnu funkciju se još uvek razvijaju, ali su tinejdžeri potpuno sposobni da razmišljaju o problemima i ciljevima, posebno kada imaju mogućnost da to rade samostalno.