You're on a plane, looking out the window at the clouds, when you suddenly remember having a heart-to-heart about your work pressure with a good colleague a few months ago.
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How do ideas that seem to have nothing to do with the moment come to us? Why do we recall some things while forgetting others? Why do we daydream, and why do our minds wander off on tangents?
A consistent pattern of brain activity in the regions that collectively make up the "default mode network," identified and given that name by neurologist Marcus Raichle in the early 2000s, underlies these processes. It is active when we fantasize, consider ourselves or others, remember an experience, or imagine future activities.
When users appear to be doing "nothing," the default mode network (thus the word "default") becomes active. It typically occurs when we are relaxed and not paying attention to a task or goal. For example, picture yourself seated on an aircraft and gazing out the window.
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The executive control network and other brain areas involved in attention, working memory, and decision-making are down-regulated or become less active when the default mode network is activated. It is because of this that the mind might wander.
Why Do Some Memories Stand Out More Than Others?
Specific memories, which are more recent, emotional, detailed, regularly repeated, or crucial to our identity, are more likely to be spontaneously recalled. For a good reason, they have our attention. These memories were essential for interacting with our social and physical surroundings at the moment, contributing to our survival.
Instead of storing memories purely reproductively, where video replays of entire events stay put in chronological order, it is believed that the brain maintains memories in a reconstructive, associative manner, storing memory details in a scattered way and bringing them together upon retrieval.
It implies that It is possible to employ a variety of sensory, emotional, and contextual data. So, these facts can act as a cue to awaken a different memory. Like when we experience a fragrance, sound, or vision, even when we are occasionally unaware of the trigger.
A large portion of our cognitive processing occurs unconsciously. The brain processes all sensory data received simultaneously in an integrated and unconscious manner.
As a result, we may feel we have no control over our thoughts, although much of this impression of lack of power may be an illusion. It's possible that very little of what our awareness does is under our direct control and that it only attempts to justify and make sense of our brains' unconscious cognitive processes after the fact.
In other words, the brain continually analyses data and forms associations between various bits of information. It means that when our conscious control systems are off, it's common for thoughts and associations to pop into our heads.
When Terrible Thoughts Arise
The default mode network encourages imagination and creativity because of the spontaneous nature of the thoughts and memories it generates. Because of this, we occasionally get an "Aha!" moment while taking a shower and solving a challenging problem at work. When Time is essential for the brain to relax and wander, it could connect disparate memories in ways that our conscious working memory could not do.
Yet, unplanned ideas are only sometimes beneficial. Unwanted or intrusive memories can appear as flashbacks or ruminations and are frequently vivid, upsetting, or at the very least, highly emotionally charged. They may also contain unsettling material that the person does not want to recall or think about and feelings of anxiety, fear, and humiliation.
For instance, in postpartum anxiety and depression, new mothers may begin to have intrusive ideas about injuring their children even though they don't intend to act on them. Understandably, this would be a very unsettling experience, but if it does occur to you, know that it is unfortunate that such thoughts are widespread.
So it's always essential to make an effort to look for assistance or at least support as soon as you can. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) teaches how to deal with unwanted thoughts.
For all of us, it's important to remember that many of our thoughts come to us independently and that this is a specific aspect of human memory and thought. Yet, by giving ourselves and our brains a break, we enable them to develop original ideas and answers to issues.
Therefore it might be preferable to adopt a conscious strategy when unwelcome thoughts arise: examine the notion and let it go, like clouds in a passing storm.
The brain is the processor of everybody, and hence it deserves to be taken well because, once the brain is damaged, it will completely ruin a person's life forever, making them unable to recognize anything and ends up mentally ill. Brain damage, at times, leads to death.
