What happens to us when our minds go blank, according to new research

We’ve all been there. For a moment our minds can wander off and we are unable to think or recall any information, making us feel like our minds are empty.

The phenomenon called mind blanking happens to all of us but its frequency varies between individuals and while it implies our minds lack stimuli, previous studies suggest that conscious awareness is unnecessary for much of our functioning.

Now researchers from Australia and Europe say their new research challenges the common perception that being awake involves a constant stream of thoughts and that mental blankness while universal, is also experienced by each person differently.

While the research team was unsure what these blank states meant for our health, author Dr Jennifer Windt from Monash University (MU) said a mind blank was more likely to occur when the brain is in a high or low arousal state.

“Even when we are trying to focus on what we are doing, our attention frequently drifts away from ongoing tasks and the here and now,” Dr Windt said.

The research team was also interested in how the phenomenon relates to other supposedly similar experiences, such as meditation so the team reviewed 80 relevant research articles, including some of their own in which they noted the participants’ brain activities when they said they thought of nothing.

They found that during the blank, the participants displayed disruptions in sensory processing and slow, sleep-like EEG waves which the research team said looked like the patterns for someone who was asleep.

In particular, mind blanks following sustained attention tasks saw people’s heart rates and pupil sizes decrease while their brains showed lower signal complexity.

The team also found that while the frequency of mind blanks varied between participants, on average each person would experience the phenomenon about 5 to 20 per cent of the time and the common experiences defined as mind blanking included memory issues,  lapses of attention and a cessation of inner speech.

While further research is needed, the team believes that the common factor between different forms of blanking may be linked to changes in arousal levels, leading to a malfunction of key cognitive functions such as attention, memory or language.

In addition, the researchers say the study points to a framework that describes mind blanking as a dynamic group of physiologically driven experiences mediated by arousal states, or a person’s level of mental alertness.

Fellow author Dr Thomas Andrillon, from the University of Liege (UL) said their study is important because mind blanking highlights the “interindividual differences in subjective experience” or how we can experience consciousness differently from each other.

“We suggest that ongoing experiences are characterized by degrees of richness, and that contentless events represent distinct mental states with their own diversity,” Dr Andrillon said.

While mind blanking is natural and not necessarily harmful, it does highlight the importance of maintaining good cognitive health. Here are some simple, science-backed strategies to help keep your brain alert and your memory sharp:

1. Keep giving your brain a workout

It’s easy to forget the brain is a muscle, just like your arms and legs, so working it regularly will strengthen it.

A great way to do this is to take up a new hobby or skill. Putting your mind to something completely different can exercise new brain cells, and keep you thinking.

An example could be a board game or even a new musical instrument, ensuring you enjoy what you’re doing too. Another way is to take on brain teasers, which can easily be found over the internet. Just taking 20 minutes out of your day to try them out will ensure you’re constantly working your brain cells.

2. Eat healthily and try some of these power foods

As with almost anything, exercising and eating healthy foods help you out – and studies have shown a good diet really can improve memory.