THE FOCUS AND THE SCAN
The Focus and the Scan
Daydreaming. Not yet identified as a disorder. But clearly a failure to focus. An attention deficit. And you may view it as a disorder if you are caught behind daydreaming when the light turns green.
Clearly not practical. Not goal-oriented. Undisciplined. The school teacher can detect it. There is a far off gaze. The student is looking at something that is not there. Looking into another dimension. The school teacher has a treatment.
“Johnny, can you answer that question?”
Johnny might know the answer. But Johnny does not know the question. In this case, we have some evidence about people who do not have this kind of attention deficit. These people are called autistic. This, at least, is suggested by a recent brain-imaging study. Daniel Kennedy and co-researcher Elizabeth Redcay published the findings in a recent issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Kennedy’s interpretation of the brain imaging results: "[Daydreaming has] actually got a very high metabolism -- it's using lots of oxygen, glucose, the neurons are really firing," he says. And the activity is widely distributed over the brain.
Nature does not waste energy. Not even to aggravate teachers. There is a reason for this daydreaming. I like to call it scanning. The opposite of focus. The point where your brain checks its inbox to see what it needs to focus on next. The point where you hear from those quiet modules about the work they have done while you were not paying attention to them. The point where you can notice those things that did not get your attention while you are focused. You may view it as an altered state of consciousness if you accept the socially correct view that you are naturally supposed to be focused on what the teacher is telling you.
You might also view it as whole-brain “thinking,” to judge by Kennedy’s description of the brain activity. Just think! You could have bought lots of books about how to do whole brain thinking. You could have focused you attention intensely on the exercises you have to practice the learn how to do whole brain thinking. Or you might have found that you had the power all along. You did not even need Dorothy’s ruby slippers. You just needed to let your mind wander. And to follow it.
And a little confidence in those quiet modules would help, too. You will never learn to swim until you learn to trust the water.
Daydreaming. Not yet identified as a disorder. But clearly a failure to focus. An attention deficit. And you may view it as a disorder if you are caught behind daydreaming when the light turns green.
Clearly not practical. Not goal-oriented. Undisciplined. The school teacher can detect it. There is a far off gaze. The student is looking at something that is not there. Looking into another dimension. The school teacher has a treatment.
“Johnny, can you answer that question?”
Johnny might know the answer. But Johnny does not know the question. In this case, we have some evidence about people who do not have this kind of attention deficit. These people are called autistic. This, at least, is suggested by a recent brain-imaging study. Daniel Kennedy and co-researcher Elizabeth Redcay published the findings in a recent issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Kennedy’s interpretation of the brain imaging results: "[Daydreaming has] actually got a very high metabolism -- it's using lots of oxygen, glucose, the neurons are really firing," he says. And the activity is widely distributed over the brain.
Nature does not waste energy. Not even to aggravate teachers. There is a reason for this daydreaming. I like to call it scanning. The opposite of focus. The point where your brain checks its inbox to see what it needs to focus on next. The point where you hear from those quiet modules about the work they have done while you were not paying attention to them. The point where you can notice those things that did not get your attention while you are focused. You may view it as an altered state of consciousness if you accept the socially correct view that you are naturally supposed to be focused on what the teacher is telling you.
You might also view it as whole-brain “thinking,” to judge by Kennedy’s description of the brain activity. Just think! You could have bought lots of books about how to do whole brain thinking. You could have focused you attention intensely on the exercises you have to practice the learn how to do whole brain thinking. Or you might have found that you had the power all along. You did not even need Dorothy’s ruby slippers. You just needed to let your mind wander. And to follow it.
And a little confidence in those quiet modules would help, too. You will never learn to swim until you learn to trust the water.
posted by Selby Evans at 11:59 AM
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