AE Files

SCIENCEVOLUME 345, 2014Just Think:The Challenges ofthe DisengagedMindTIMOTHY D. WILSONAND COLLEAGUESUNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
Key study:
2014, Timothy Wilson, University of Virginia
Published:
Science, vol. 345
Duration:
6 to 15 minutes alone

Boredom is the state of wanting to be engaged and finding nothing to engage with. People pay to avoid it. In 2014, participants sat alone in an empty room for up to fifteen minutes. The one available activity was a button that delivered an electric shock. Two thirds of the men pressed it.

The empty stretch has a function. With no task in front of it, the brain switches to a network that replays the past and simulates the future. Mann and Cadman found that people produced more ideas after a boring task than after none. A phone fills every empty stretch in a day, and that processing time goes with it.

FIG. 1 CHOSE THE SHOCK25507567%MEN, 12 OF 1825%WOMEN, 6 OF 24ALONE IN A ROOM, 15 MIN

The Shock Button (2014)

Participants had felt the shock beforehand and said they would pay to avoid it. Left alone with their thoughts, 12 of 18 men and 6 of 24 women shocked themselves. One man pressed the button 190 times.

The Phone Book (2014)

Sandi Mann and Rebekah Cadman had one group copy numbers from a phone book for fifteen minutes. Then everyone listed uses for a pair of polystyrene cups. The group that had been bored produced more.

FIG. 2 THE TASK20000 100027919 117335838 134643757 151951676 169259595 186567514 203875433 221183352 238421272 255729191 273037110 290345029 307652948 324960867 342268786 359520000 100027919 117335838 134643757 151951676 1692COPY FOR 15 MIN. THEN: USES FOR TWO CUPS.
FIG. 3 THE BRAIN, SHARE OF THE BODYBODY WEIGHT2%ENERGY USE, AT REST20%ENERGY USE, DEMANDING TASKLESS THAN 5% MORETHE RESTING BRAIN IS BUSY

The Resting Brain (2001)

Marcus Raichle found brain regions that grow more active when a task stops, and named them the default mode. His later papers put numbers on it. The brain is 2 percent of body weight and uses 20 percent of its energy. A demanding task often adds less than 5 percent.

Inattentional Blindness

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