Mind Wandering and Mental Focus with Arnaud Delorme

Dec 10, 2025

In this engaging discussion, Arnaud Delorme, a neuroscientist and expert on mind wandering and meditation, shares his insights on the intricate workings of the human mind. He explains how mind wandering, often viewed negatively, actually plays a crucial role in creativity and task reprioritization. Delorme discusses the default mode network's involvement in spontaneous thought and how meditation can enhance awareness of wandering. He also highlights the benefits of managing intrusive thoughts and the importance of tuning, rather than controlling, our mental focus.

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INSIGHT

Mind Wandering Is Universal And Subtle

Mind wandering is universal and often unnoticed during tasks like reading or meditating.
Arnaud Delorme found it subtle and under-studied, which motivated his research into its mechanisms.

ANECDOTE

Meditators Still Mind Wander

Even experienced meditators mind wander frequently, sometimes even on long retreats.
Arnaud Delorme asserts you cannot completely stop mind wandering, even for expert monks.

INSIGHT

Mind Wandering Helps Reprioritize Tasks

Mind wandering serves evolutionary prioritization by letting us disengage and re-evaluate tasks.
Delorme likens it to reprioritizing needs like eating when engrossed in a long movie.

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Mind Wandering and Mental Focus with Arnaud Delorme

Arnaud Delorme is a university professor at Paul Sabatier University in Toulouse, France. He is also an adjunct faculty member at the Schwarz Center for Computational Neuroscience at the University of California San Diego and a consulting research scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences. His research encompasses pure neuroscience methods as well as the neuroscience of mind wandering, meditation, and so-called mediums, and he is the author of Why Our Minds Wander: Understand the Science and Learn How to Focus Your Thoughts.

Arnaud explores the neuroscience of mind wandering, explaining how spontaneous thought arises, why it is universal, and how it relates to meditation and brain networks. He discusses the default mode network, metacognition, and how awareness of wandering thoughts reveals the dynamic nature of consciousness. Delorme also shares practical insights into tuning the mind through meditation and understanding the evolutionary, emotional, and creative roles of mind wandering.

New Thinking Allowed host, Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD, is author of The Roots of Consciousness, Psi Development Systems, and The PK Man. Between 1986 and 2002 he hosted and co-produced the original Thinking Allowed public television series. He is the recipient of the only doctoral diploma in “parapsychology” ever awarded by an accredited university (University of California, Berkeley, 1980). He is also the Grand Prize winner of the 2021 Bigelow Institute essay competition regarding the best evidence for survival of human consciousness after permanent bodily death. He is Co-Director of Parapsychology Education at the California Institute for Human Science.

(Recorded on November 7, 2025)

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