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The more you daydream, the more creative you are.
Illustrattion: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com
If you frequently get engrossed in a series of pleasant thoughts while working or at home, then don't be ashamed as it may be an indication that you are really smart and creative.
Those who daydreamt more ferquently scored higher on intellectual, creative ability and had more efficient brain systems measured in the MRI machine, a recent study has revealed.
According to researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, daydreaming during meetings is not necessarily a bad thing.
Researcher Eric Schumacher said that people with efficient brains may have too much brain capacity to stop their minds from wandering.
The team, including lead co-author Christine Godwin, measured the brain patterns of more than 100 people while they lay in an MRI machine.
The participants were instructed to focus on a stationary fixation point for five minutes and filled in a questionnaire about how much their mind wandered in daily life.
The researchers then used the data to identify which parts of the brain worked in unison.
"The correlated brain regions gave us insight about which areas of the brain work together during an awake, resting state," Godwin stated.
Interestingly, the study suggested that the same brain patterns measured during these states are related to different cognitive abilities.
Schumacher noted that higher efficiency means more capacity to think, and the mind may wander when performing easy tasks.
Godwin and Schumacher think that the findings open the door for follow-up research to further understand when mind-wandering is harmful, and when it may actually be helpful.
"There are important individual differences to consider as well, such as a person's motivation or intent to stay focused on a particular task," Godwin concluded.
The research appears in Neuropsychologia journal.
