The brain is doing very important things when stuck in neutral. Researchers have noticed that instead of lying dormant when unoccupied, the brain devours a huge amount of calories when we’re doing absolutely nothing. So what exactly is it up to? Some say there’s a major system within the brain that taps in to our memories, knitting them all together. Others believe all the evidence points to a default network that enables us to daydream.
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Spoken phrases seem to morph into song when repeated, shedding light on the difference between speech and song. In a US test, people who were played a phrase once and asked to repeat what they heard, spoke it back. But those who heard the same phrase many times sang it back.
Bianca Nogrady is a freelance science and medical writer and also a broadcaster for New Scientist magazine.
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