Boost creativity and memory with daydreaming (science says so!)

Explaining the concept, Dubai-based psychiatrist Asfar Afridi from Medcare Camali Clinic, and Carla Khalil, a neuropsychologist explain it as a ‘common phenomenon’ that engages the brain in several ways. In fact, this process of inward reflection can even help with problem-solving, memory and furnish your creativity. "It helps you refocus attention, and engage in out-of-the-box thinking, and gives you time to consider new solutions," says Afridi. A free flowing state, as he says.

Daydreaming is a process of inward reflection. It helps you refocus attention, and engage in out-of-the-box thinking, problem-solving and also gives you the time to think of new solutions....

- Asfar Afridi, psychiatrist, Medcare Camali Clinic

It’s also a rather complex cognitive phenomenon that engages specific neural networks in the brain. While it may temporarily reduce our immediate productivity by diverting our attention from external tasks, it offers valuable benefits, including enhanced creativity, mental rest, and opportunities for self-reflection, explains Khalil. 

So for those of you who were often derided for daydreaming in school, you can feel vindicated.

Daydreaming and fantasies: The good, the bad and the harmful

The term daydreaming goes back all the way to 1900s, where Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud explored the relationship between the activity and creativity. Such activities that involved ‘building castles in the air’ were normal human behaviour. In fact, it contributed to the creative release of artistic expression.

In his 1907 paper, Creative Writing and Daydreaming, Freud posits the relationship between an author and their work. He asks the simple question: Where does an artiste draw their inspiration from? How can a stranger evoke such emotion in us, just through their words?

In order to understand this, he looks for an activity that is similar to creative writing. When children play, they create a world of their own. The child links their imagination to tangible objects in the world. However, when we grow up, we indulge in fantasising and daydreaming. Unlike the child, the adult is embarrassed by his fantasies, and prefers to suppress them.

Freud goes on to say that daydreams, just like dreams at night, function as wish fulfilment. The difference is that the repressed wishes expressed in night dreams are wishes that we might be embarrassed by, so we conceal them from ourselves. Freud links this to daydreaming with the creative process. He calls the creative writer a "dreamer in broad daylight".

Everyone has unfulfilled wishes, and writing is one channel to release such wishes. When a person writes, they are filled with a sense of deep cognitive joy that releases some tension. Artistes fantasise about their childhood and daydream; these thoughts find their way into writing.

Later, psychologists like Julian Varendonck took the benefits of daydreaming forward. However, in the past two decades, daydreaming was declared as a ‘cognitive failure’ notably by Harvard researchers in 2010 with a paper titled Wandering Mind Is Not a Happy Mind.

Yet, psychologists like Jerome Singer, who supposedly spent most of his professional life ‘daydreaming’, noted the benefits of the activity. He explored several kinds of daydreaming:

• Fear of the future: This occurs when we keep panicking about the past, and keep ruminating over a negative experience.

• Poor attentional control: This occurs when we’re unable to focus on a particular task.

• The positive-constructive daydreaming (PCD): This occurs when we imagine future possibilities in a creative, positive manner, with vivid imagery. This is considered instructive for planning, as it involves inward reflection. It empowers a person and leads the way to explore the external world.

What happens when we daydream?

As both Khalil and Afridi explain, there are several neural networks that are involved when we drift off for those few minutes. There are parts of the brain that 'light up', when we daydream, as they explain. 

“Neuroscience has shed light on the neural mechanisms behind daydreaming,” adds Khalil. “In this case, the ‘default mode network’ or DMN plays a crucial role in this mental state,” she says. It is the part of the brain that is often associated with daydreaming. It has several connections running through it, which impact other neural activities.

The DMN involves a network of interconnected brain regions that become active, when our minds are at rest, she says. This default mode part of our brain is associated with our resting state and also helps us reflect on our own consciousness and internal narrative. It is also where many abstract thoughts take place: This introspective space is what separates us from primates, as we are able to construct social scenarios. 

“It’s not focused on the external world,” explains Khalil.

When you’re daydreaming, the DMN [default mode network] becomes more active. This results in a decrease in activity in brain regions that are associated with external attention and task-oriented activities

- Carla Khalil, neuropsychologist, Dubai

When you’re daydreaming and your mind is lost in different worlds, the DMN becomes more active. This results in a decrease in activity in brain regions that are associated with external attention and task-oriented activities, adds Khalil. And so, when you daydream, your brain shifts from the external environment. You aren’t focused on the tasks at hand.

While that can spell trouble on some level, it can also be a boon. “For one, daydreaming allows our brains to make new connections between ideas and concepts. It makes way for creativity and innovative thinking by encouraging the exploration of alternative scenarios and solutions,” adds Khalil. And so, people who daydream are known to be more reflective and compassionate. It is a source of self-reflection and insight, as it provides an opportunity to contemplate goals, desires and aspirations.

Moreover, it’s like the body’s ‘pause’ button. “It may serve as a form of mental rest. Just as our bodies require breaks to recover from physical exertion, our minds benefit from occasional breaks to recharge. Daydreaming provides this mental relief, potentially leading to improved focus and productivity when we return to our tasks,” explains Khalil.

Boosts memory? Research says so

In 2023, as per a study published, titled Cortical reactivations predict future sensory responses, in the British scientific journal Nature, Harvard researchers conducted an experiment to prove that daydreaming boosts memory.

The study tracked brain activity in mice when they examined two images, featuring distinct checkerboard patterns. During periods of rest between images, they found that the mice’s thoughts would return to those images. The patterns of neurons fired when the mouse were daydreaming, looked incredibly similar to the distinct patterns fired when each image was originally shown.

They also saw that the slightly altered pattern of neurons fired during daydreaming would influence which neurons fired when the image was shown again. They called this the “representational drift”. What was more intriguing was that the patterns of neurons fired for each image became increasingly distinct, until it became an almost entirely unique set of neurons. The team’s findings also pointed to the evidence that repeated daydreaming may eventually help the brain distinguish between similar images.

In other words, the study showed that, when entering a state of “quiet wakefulness” after an experience, learning and memory can be boosted in both humans and rodents. This ‘quiet wakefulness’ is a state of relaxed environmental awareness that helps the mind process complex thoughts, according to the study. The scientists concluded that one must make time for daydreaming, in order to ‘cement’ learning during the day.

Effective tool in the cognitive toolkit

When we incorporate controlled and purposeful daydreaming into our lives, it can have other several benefits. “One technique known as ‘mind-wandering’ involves setting aside specific periods during the day for free-form thinking. During these moments, you allow your mind to wander without a specific goal or agenda. This can be particularly helpful for people seeking creative inspiration or struggling with complex problems,” says Khalil.

However, as always, a balance is needed. Uncontrolled and excessive daydreaming affects productivity, as it leads to procrastination or the inability to focus on essential tasks. When managed well, it is actually an effective tool in the cognitive toolkit.