Science· 2014Q1
Just think: The challenges of the disengaged mind
- 535citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2014year
Short summary
People find being alone with their thoughts an unpleasant experience, with many preferring mild electric shocks over sensory deprivation.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Being alone with one's thoughts is generally perceived as an unpleasant experience.
- Participants in a study preferred mild electric shocks to sensory deprivation.
- Men were particularly inclined to choose electric shocks over being left with their thoughts.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Don't leave me alone with my thoughts Nowadays, we enjoy any number of inexpensive and readily accessible stimuli, be they books, videos, or social media. We need never be alone, with no one to talk to and nothing to do. Wilson et al. explored the state of being alone with one's thoughts and found that it appears to be an unpleasant experience. In fact, many of the people studied, particularly the men, chose to give themselves a mild electric shock rather than be deprived of external sensory stimuli. Science , this issue p. 75
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Science, 2014 · DOI ↗
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Field: Cognitive Neuroscience
Cognitive NeuroscienceNeuroscience