Why do our minds wander? What the brain's default mode tells us about our humanity | Vinod Menon

Here’s a question for you that may at first seem trivial, but is actually profound: Why do our minds drift?

If you have ever dabbled in mindfulness or meditation, you know this mind wandering has an almost gravitational pull. In fact, researchers now think we spend as much as 50 percent of our waking time in this state, which cognitive scientists have dubbed the brain’s “default mode.”

Today’s guest is Vinod Menon. He’s a giant in the field of cognitive science who played a central role in defining the brain “default mode network” back in 2003.

In our conversation, he argues our tendency to daydream may be at the core of our self-identities, our creativity – and also many of our most troubling psychiatric disorders, from Alzheimer’s to ADHD.

Vinod Menon is Rachel L. and Walter F. Nichols, MD., Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Science at Stanford Medicine, and an affiliate of the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute.

Learn More

• Menon's "Stanford Cognitive & Systems Neuroscience Laboratory"
• Stanford Medicine study identifies distinct brain organization patterns in women and men (Stanford Medicine, 2024)
• Children with autism have broad memory difficulties, Stanford Medicine-led study finds (Stanford Medicine, 2023)
• Interactions between attention-grabbing brain networks weak in ADHD (Stanford Medicine, 2015)

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