The Default Neural Network (DNN) What Happens In Our Brain When We Daydream?
It is common to catch oneself in a deep state of self-absorption, daydreaming or, as they say in Spain, “thinking about shrews.” Even in situations where there is enough light and it is possible to detect movement around us, We have a surprising ability to not think about anything, ignore what is happening in the immediate environment and simply let ourselves be carried away by a pleasant sensation of having nowhere to direct our attention.
These episodes in which we get lost in a stream of confusing sensations and thoughts that are difficult to define do not occur by chance, since they have a neural basis in the normal functioning of our brain. The set of parts of the brain involved in this activity is called Default Neural Network (RND), and the research carried out to better understand this structure serves to better understand how we think and feel.
For many years it has been believed that the brain is an organ whose level of electrical activity basically depends on whether it is functioning to solve cognitive tasks or not. From this point of view, for example, the neural machinery in our head would begin to truly perform only at the moment in which we try to remember something to answer an exam question, solve a puzzle, observe a person carefully or, for example, , follow some instructions to assemble a piece of furniture.
However, When we daydream, the neurons in our brain continue to send massive electrical impulses It was previously believed that this neuronal activity in areas not related to the bodily activities that keep us alive was simple noise, that is, electrical signals launched at random and emitted in an uncoordinated manner, like the snow that appears on the screen of a computer. television poorly connected to its antenna.
Today, however, we know that This electrical activity does show well-defined patterns and there is coordination in it, which shows that these neurons continue to respond to a function in the full stage of self-absorption. We also know that, surprisingly, when we start to wander and stop paying attention to our surroundings, our brain consumes almost the same energy as when we perform complex cognitive tasks that we have to perform consciously: only 5% less
In some way, our brain is designed so that we can daydream, and it is likely that this activity has one or more specific uses.
The dark energy of the brain
We know that brain activity continues to exist even when we stop paying attention to stimuli from the external world. Now… what is all this activity for? What type of neural processes are those that are taking away all those resources that are not intended to resolve issues related to the environment?
At the moment, little is known about this issue, and this is what has led some researchers to talk about the “dark energy of the brain.” a type of activation that is known to be there but whose function is unknown
However, what we do know about this neuronal activity is that it is associated with very specific areas of the brain. This set of regions involved in these mysterious activation patterns has been named Default Neural Network, Default Mode Network in English.
In other words, these recent investigations show that The human brain is prepared so that its level of activity does not decrease much when our thoughts withdraw into ourselves In the moments when we become absorbed we enter a “default mode” that we are only beginning to understand, and the default neural network is, in this way, the tissue of nerve cells that allow this to occur.
Exploring the default neural network
The default neural network is distributed in three areas: the medial area of the temporal, parietal and prefrontal lobes These regions are activated in one way or another depending on whether we are carrying out tasks that require sustained focused attention on changing elements of our physical environment. Specifically, and although it may seem counterintuitive, the default neural network is activated when we start to wander and enter a state of self-absorption, and it turns off when tasks related to the external world require our attention.
Regarding the psychological aspect of what the coordination of the neurons of the default neural network entails, we know that during moments of daydreaming our thoughts, although imprecise and difficult to express verbally (partly due to the little attention we pay to them) , They revolve around the idea of the “I” and the imaginary situations that could happen in the future, more than reviews of past experiences. This leads us to believe that the function of the default mode may be related to the anticipation of events and our reaction to them, although this hypothesis has yet to be tested.
What does the default neural network tell us about the practice of daydreaming?
What we know about the default neural network leads us to conclude that the nature of this kind of “mind wandering,” or mind-wanderingis different from what we believed: it is not an activity that entails the blackout of large areas of the brain and the decrease in the coordinated activity of our neurons, but rather It continues to be linked to a systematic and determined functioning of brain areas In other words, when we daydream our brain does not deactivate, but rather enters a different state of activation.
Our mind is not designed to “go blank”
Thus, it is difficult to assess to what extent our mind is blank if when this occurs our brain enters a kind of activation that consumes almost as much energy as thinking focused on external stimuli
Investigating the functioning of the default neural network can help us better understand what we are talking about when we refer to the activity of “daydreaming” and brings us closer to the possibility of revealing what useful aspects of brain functioning this set of neurons is associated with. and by what logic this type of activation is guided.
