Behavioral, experiential, and physiological signatures of mind blanking.
Esteban Munoz-Musat, Arthur Le Coz, Andrew W Corcoran, Laouen Belloli, Lionel Naccache, Thomas Andrillon
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America December 30, 2025 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2510262122 via PubMed
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractMind blanking—a state of apparent mental emptiness—produces distinct brain signatures that separate it from mind wandering and focused attention. In 62 participants performing a sustained attention task, mind blanking was associated with behavioral lapses, reduced fast brain oscillations and complexity over posterior electrodes, and decreased long-range connectivity compared to both mind wandering and on-task states. Event-related potentials showed disrupted visual processing beginning 200 milliseconds after a stimulus, suggesting a breakdown in conscious access to sensory information. Brain activity patterns predicted mental states on individual trials, revealing dynamics that subjective reports alone miss. These findings indicate that being awake does not guarantee consciousness of something; mind blanking reflects genuine gaps in the stream of thought, arising from disruptions in generating or accessing thought content.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Observational cohort Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 62 |
| Population | Human participants |
| Keywords | EEG Attention Consciousness Mind blanking Mind wandering |
| Citations | 5 |
| Key finding | Mind blanking is characterized by distinct behavioral and neurophysiological signatures—including reduced fast oscillations, decreased long-range connectivity, and disrupted visual processing—that differentiate it from mind wandering and on-task states, suggesting it reflects genuine gaps in conscious thought content. |
Abstract
Does being awake necessarily mean being conscious of something? This study investigates the phenomenon of mind blanking (MB), characterized by an "emptiness of mind," comparing it with mind wandering (MW) and on-task (ON) states. Using a sustained attention task and electroencephalogram monitoring, behavioral, and neurophysiological signatures of MB were examined in 62 participants. MB exhibited a specific pattern of behavioral lapses, as well as decreased fast oscillatory activity and complexity over posterior electrodes compared to MW. Functional connectivity analyses revealed decreased long-range interareal connectivity during MB, compared to both ON and MW states. Event-related potentials with source reconstruction and temporal decoding techniques indicated a significant disruption in visual processing during MB, starting from 200 ms post stimulus and echoing into the late-stage of visual processing, suggesting a disruption of conscious access to sensory information during MB. Electroencephalogram-derived markers allowed the prediction of mental states at the trial level, offering a finer view of conscious dynamics than subjective reports alone. Overall, these findings challenge the notion of the wakeful conscious mind as inherently content-oriented, suggesting that MB reflects genuine gaps in the stream of conscious thoughts, arising from disruptions in the generation or accessibility of thought content.