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A typical workday might be nine to five, but that does not mean that people work every minute of their day. Every one is guilty of day dreaming and fantasizing about other things, like the weekend or an upcoming vacation. Researchers from the University of Florida decided to look into the mechanics behind the wandering mind and how the brain works when there are so many different topics yearning for attention.

The researchers believe that studying how the brain sections off different topics would be important in understanding certain cognitive disorders, such as attention deficiency hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), work in the brain and how new treatment options might be derived from this kind of study. The researchers devised an experiment in which participants were asked to perform a task that required high levels of concentration. During this task, the experimenters used fMRIs to analyze brain activity, which reveal which sections of the brain were being used for the task. By observing the levels of activity in these sections and the participant's performance on the task, the researchers could then use the Granger causality technique. This method provides the researchers the base for examining how the sections of the brain might be influencing performance levels.

The researchers concluded that when people who performed the best on the test had their brain's default mode network suppressed, which limits the brain from wandering. The brain's default mode network is composed of many different signals that keep the brain wandering from topic to topic. In order to stop the constant distractions, the brain's default mode network would need to suppressed, which often occurs when the individual is exposed to a task that requires a lot of attention.

The researcher, Mingzhou Ding, professor of biomedical engineering at the University, stated, "People have hypothesized different functions for signals going in different directions. We show that when the task control network suppresses the default mode network, the person can do the task better and faster. The better the default mode network is shut down, the better a person performs." Through that understanding, research into improving attention spans and promoting more efficient work might be possible.

The researchers stated that when the brain cannot suppress the default mode network, signals are being sent back and forth during the task, which can become very distracting. People who can concentrate better on one task will also perform better overall.

The study was published in The Journal of Neuroscience.