Scientists reveal exactly what happens when your mind goes blank
Whether it be during a job interview explaining why you are qualified for the role, or on a date discussing a hilarious story, your mind seems to go blank at the completely wrong time.
But what actually happens during this mental state, which researchers estimate takes up between five to 20 percent of our waking hours.
Many will be fully aware this so-called 'mind blanking' involves no thoughts, no distractions and zero emotions, leading to a moment of absolute nothingness.
While the body may stay awake, awareness typically pauses during this brief moment - and scientists decided to conduct a study on why this is the case.
Advert
Neurologist Esteban Munoz-Musat said: "Mind blanking is defined as the complete absence of mental content that can be described to others. No mental images, no catchy tune looping in your head, no obsessive thoughts... nothing!
"This experience is often sought after by practitioners of meditation or mindfulness. But it isn’t confined to them: it seems to be very common after intense, prolonged cognitive effort — such as a university exam — or in cases of sleep deprivation."
Researchers over at Sorbonne Université in Paris monitored 62 different adults during an exercise where they had to either press or not press a button when they saw a smiley face or the number three, which was designed to see how they maintained focus in a long and boring task.
Every 40-70 seconds, those involved in the study were asked what had been going on in their minds before the prompt, with mind blanking happening roughly 16 percent of the time.
Mind wandering was more common, however, which is said to have made people more impulsive and just generally quicker - but also more likely to submit false alarms on the exercise.
During mind blanking, participants were worse at visual processing, more error-prone, and tended to feel more drowsy.
These patterns resemble what would be happening while you're sleeping, while the neural patterns could even be similar to that of deep sleep or even anesthesia.
Thomas Andrillon, a senior author on the study, said: "These observations suggest that during a mind blanking episode, participants had reduced access to sensory information from their environment.
"These new data support an emerging idea: being awake does not necessarily mean being conscious of something. Mind blanking corresponds to a genuine interruption in the stream of thoughts."
The set of data certainly provides an interesting dynamic on whether being awake truly means we are demonstrating continuous awareness.
But it should be worth noting not everyone involved in the study experienced mind blanking, suggesting it's well and truly a case by case basis.
Topics: Psychology
Callum Jones