#673 Moshe Bar - Mindwandering; Mental Drift, Mood, and Creativity
RECORDED ON JUNE 14th 2022.
Dr. Moshe Bar is Head of the Cognitive Neuroscience Lab at the Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center at Bar-Ilan University. He does research in Cognitive Neuroscience, Biological Psychiatry, NeuroImaging, and Learning and Memory. He is the author of Mindwandering: How Your Constant Mental Drift Can Improve Your Mood and Boost Your Creativity.
In this episode, we focus on Mindwandering. Topics include: the default mode network; how thoughts get associated; good and bad types of mindwandering; the relationship between mindwandering and mental health, with the example of schizophrenia; associative thinking and preferences; what we mindwander about; our sense of self; inner speech; Dr. Bar’s work on visual cognition, and the driller vs. hairdryer experiment; the inevitability of expectations, and how to deal with them; first impressions about other people; the relationship between states of mind and personality; immersion (in the modern industrial world); and if it is possible to deliberately change states of mind.
Time Links:
Intro
Mindwandering, and the default mode network
How thoughts get associated
Good and bad mindwandering
Mindwandering and mental health
Associative thinking and preferences
What do we mindwander about?
The sense of self
Inner speech
Visual cognition: the drill vs. hairdryer experiment
Dealing with expectations
First impressions
States of mind and personality
What is immersion?
Can we deliberately change our states of mind?
Follow Dr. Bar’s work!
Follow Dr. Bar’s work:
Faculty page: https://bit.ly/3M6P0NJ
Website/lab: https://bit.ly/39w2dk0
ResearchGate profile: https://bit.ly/35ukYTg
Mindwandering: https://amzn.to/3K26skB