Anatomy of A Brain Fart

[n2doc]

When your brain gets bored, it unleashes the stupidest of all stupid mistakes.
by Leeaundra Keany
From the Brain special issue; published online December 22, 2009

On the scorecard the play is marked simply as an “error.” But that hardly conveys the magnitude of the blunder committed by Chicago Cubs outfielder Milton Bradley. It is June 12, 2009, in a home game against the Minnesota Twins. Top of the eighth, one out. Bradley catches a routine fly ball. Thinking he has just ended the inning, he tosses the ball into the stands and poses for pictures. Only then does he remember that there are three outs in an inning, not two. The Twins score a run. The Cubbies eventually lose the game.

A rookie mistake? Actually, Bradley was a seasoned pro executing moves he had performed thousands of times. Rather, it is a classic example of a brain fart—an inexplicably stupid error in a straightforward task made by someone with abundant skill and experience. We are all prone to them, although most brain farts are less spectacular (and less humiliating) than Bradley’s—calling your spouse by your ex-spouse’s name, for instance, or zipping straight past the freeway exit that you take every day on your way home from work.

Neuroscientists, a more refined bunch, call these episodes “maladaptive brain activity changes.” But they wonder the same thing we all do: Why does the brain fail to execute on something that should be so easy?

The latest research seems to indicate that brain farts are a unique type of cognitive mistake. Unlike errors caused by lack of information or experience, or by distractions, brain farts are innate. They have a predictable neural pattern that emerges up to 30 seconds before they happen. When you are absorbed in inward-focused thinking such as daydreaming, a collection of brain regions jointly called the default mode network (DMN) starts furiously popping away. Neuroscientists don’t agree on exactly which parts of the brain compose this network, but they now believe it is one of the busiest neurological systems. All that activity may help explain why the adult brain, which represents only about 2 percent of the body’s total weight, consumes up to 20 percent of its energy.

more
http://discovermagazine.com/2009/the-brain-2/22-anatomy-of-a-brain-fart

[silverweb]

1. Thank goodness they have an answer!

I thought I had a new disease called "periodic terminal brain faaaaaaaarts."

Now we know it probably all started with my childhood chronic window-gazing that turned into adulthood chronic daydreaming.

:rofl:

[PADemD]

2. His emotional biorhythm, affecting judgment, was critical that day.

Go ahead and knock it, but biorhythms do affect our lives. Thanks for the example.