Daydreaming and Driving: What’s the Relationship?

Daydreaming

Do you ever catch yourself randomly daydreaming? Have you thought about when do you daydream the most or where and why? Medline Plus recently published an article called Daydreaming Behind the Wheel. I have summed up the main points in this blog post.

Researchers analyzed the brain activity of volunteers during a driving simulation to determine how often their minds wandered. The investigators also looked for specific brain patterns that would indicate when this daydreaming occurred.

The researchers noted the driver’s minds were more likely to wander on the second simulation, or the “commute” home. On average, the volunteers were aware of their distraction only 65 percent of the time.

Daydreaming among the drivers was also betrayed by their brain’s electrical activity, the study published recently in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience found.

The researchers noted the driver’s minds were more likely to wander on the second simulation, or the “commute” home. On average, the volunteers were aware of their distraction only 65 percent of the time.

Daydreaming among the drivers was also betrayed by their brain’s electrical activity, the study published recently in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience found.

“Mind wandering may be an essential part of human existence and unavoidable. It may be a way to restore the mind after a long day at the office. What we are not sure about yet is how dangerous it is during driving,” Baldwin said. “We need additional research to figure this out.

“We were able to detect periods of mind wandering through distinctive electrophysiological brain patterns, some of which indicated that the drivers were likely less receptive to external stimuli,” Baldwin said in a journal news release.

“In terms of improving safety in the future, one option could be … self-driving cars that allow people’s minds to wander when it is safe to do so, but re-engage when they need to pay attention,” she said.

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