Is our brain "doing" anything when we daydream and wander? Is our brain active at all, when we seem unoccupied by tasks at hand?
YES and YES.
Recently, psychologists published a study where they measured people's brain activity when their task-at-hand is not demanding (just "routine work"). They found that their brains generate Stimulus-Independent-Thought (SIT). The finding led them to think that the brain is active even when we are not doing anything requiring our full-attention. They examined their participants and compared their levels of SIT when they performed, 1) a "routinely practised" task and, 2) a completely "new and novel" task. There was definitely more brain activity -SIT- found in the first case.
Psychologists termed what they found "our psychological baseline." Such baseline engages a particular region in our brain responsible for generating spontaneous-thought. That's their hypothesis for now, at least.
What does it all mean? What's the brain doing when we daydream?
Well....We are "thinking", though we are not aware of it. Still thinking!!!
One more question:
How does a "thought" form then?
Sources:
Science 19 January 2007: Vol. 315. no. 5810, pp. 393 - 395
Science 24 November 2006: Vol. 314. no. 5803, pp. 1249 - 1250
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