Not Lazy, Melamun Turns Out To Make The Brain Healthier

JAKARTA - So far, daydreaming is often considered as a sign of lack of focus, laziness, or unproductive. We are often asked not to daydream and refocus on work or lessons. But apparently, the latest scientific studies actually prove the opposite. Apparently, daydreaming has important benefits for the brain.

Research conducted by a team of scientists at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) has succeeded in revealing that the human brain remains active and can learn when we are not focused on certain tasks. This study involved 19 rats who had been specially raised, and their brain activity was recorded 89 times, resulting in data from 90 thousand brain cells (neuron).

According to Lin Zhong, research scientist and lead author of the study, the human brain naturally has the ability to unsupervised learning, namely learning without having to be taught directly.

"Humans must use unsupervised learning, a strong learning ability that has been possessed since birth," explained Lin Zhong, quoted from the IFLScience page on Saturday, July 19.

For example, when we go for a walk in the mall without a purpose, just look at the store, maybe we feel like we are not thinking anything. But in fact, the brain remains active observing the environment, absorbing information, and shaping memories of what it looks like. This is reinforced by Marius Pachitariu's statement, the lead team of the study.

"When you feel you are not doing anything, the brain may continue to work hard to formulate information about the surrounding environment, so that when you need to focus later, you are ready," said Marius.

In this study, mice are placed in a virtual reality environment that resembles the real world, complete with different textured corridors. Some textures are associated with gifts and others are not. The goal is to see how the mouse's brain learns to recognize patterns, even if it is not given direct instructions.

Interestingly, the rats that are allowed to roam without special training actually understand the gift system faster than the officially trained mice. That is, they learn only from free exploration, by staying silent while traveling.

We started wondering if his own job was really important. It could be that a lot of learning and brain changes occur just because of the free exploration of the environment," Pachitariu said.

This discovery supports what many people feel so far, namely we can learn only by seeing, hearing, and experiencing something, without the need to be taught directly.

"We often learn more just by observing people around us such as family and friends, compared to direct teaching," added Zhong.

This study provides important input for the world of education. Learning environments are key, not just teaching methods. Children who grow up in positive environments, full of good examples, will more easily absorb these values, without having to be constantly notified.

"I will focus more on the student learning environment, because from there the data for learning comes from. For example, children who grow up in the midst of positive role models will be more likely to be good individuals," said Zhong.

In addition, the results of this study also open up opportunities to develop artificial intelligence (AI) that mimics the way the human brain learns naturally.

"Our research paved the way for a deeper understanding of the relationship between artificial intelligence and biological intelligence." Zhong said.