Daydreaming May Help Fuel Innovation, Research Finds

Daydreaming activates the default mode network, a set of brain regions that includes the posterior cingulate cortex, retrosplenial cortex and parts of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex that make up the core structural network of the brain.

According to Schooler, the default mode network, which is associated with memories and imagination, is turned off when you're very focused on a task, which could be one of the reasons studies have linked daydreaming to lower scores in reading comprehension, academic performance, IQ and task-related processing.

The costs of mind-wandering aside, Schooler believes the practice has "tremendous evolutionary value." Mind-wandering, he asserts, may have led to the idea to turn a stick and stone into a spear.

"Daydreaming takes advantage of our amazing brains that are able to engage in mental time travel that can lead to the kind of innovation that can be achieved only when we transcend our current circumstances," Schooler says.

For older adults, daydreaming may be more challenging. A March 2012 study published in Psychology and Aging asked 54 young adults and 62 older adults to complete tasks that required sustained attention; older adults reported daydreaming at a rate of 16 percent (compared with 44 percent of younger adults).

"These focused tasks may be more cognitively demanding for older adults, giving them less capacity for their minds to wander," Schooler says.

To promote creativity, Schooler suggests seeking out opportunities to daydream, including taking daily walks or gardening — both activities that are nondemanding enough to promote a wandering mind.

Learn more about the research in this article

• "A Wandering Mind Is an Unhappy Mind," Science, November 2010. In this paper, researchers discuss the findings of their survey of 2,250 adults with a mean age of 34, conducted via a smartphone app. Participants were asked questions about their moods and whether they were thinking about something other than what they were currently doing. Among the findings, the researchers estimated that people's minds wandered 46.9 percent of the time. Read a summary of the study. (A fee is required to access the full study.)

• "Inspired by Distraction: Mind Wandering Facilitates Creative Incubation," Psychological Science, August 2012. Read a summary of the study. (A fee is required to access the full study.)

• "Ode to positive constructive daydreaming," Frontiers in Psychology, September 2013. This scientific paper reviews the work of daydream researcher Jerome L. Singer and examines studies looking at the benefits and drawbacks of daydreaming. Read the full study.

• "Mind-wandering in younger and older adults: Converging evidence from the sustained attention to response task and reading for comprehension," Psychology and Aging, March 2012. Read the full study.

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