Can we ever stop thinking?

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We are often in an endless loop of thought. And from time to time, we try to stop this never-ending stream of thoughts by telling us to stop thinking. But can we or can we ever really stop thinking?

It depends on how you define "thinking," said Michael Halassa, an assistant professor in the Department of Cognitive Science and Brain at MIT. A thought, which results from chemical fire between brain cells, can occur at both the conscious and unconscious levels, he said.

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The type of thoughts we are aware of, such as the endless thoughts that appear when we try to sleep, can, in theory, be silenced. That's probably what meditation is all about, Halassa said.

But even if it is what meditators strive to do, it is not clear how far they can reach a state of emptiness. "I do not know if [completely stopping thinking] It's theoretically possible and if that's the case, I think it would be incredibly hard to test, "said Julia Kam, a cognitive science scientist at the Knight Lab of the University of California at Berkeley. .

But it is clear that "meditators are much more attentive to their thoughts," Kam told Live Science. "So when they are supposed to focus on something and their minds relax, then they are simply better at capturing that change of focus."

There is a difference between having a thought and being aware of it, she thinks. So, if you ask someone what they think and that they respond with "nothing", they might just not realize that they have thoughts, Kam says. For example, you might be deeply thinking about an upcoming relationship or test, and you will only notice it when someone is tapping you on the shoulder and you get out, she says. People who think of "nothing" could also have thoughts of conscience that do not tell a coherent story, Halassa said.

But the brain never stops "thinking" in a broader sense. Most thoughts go on in the background without us being aware of them, and "there is no way to turn them off," Halassa told Live Science.

If you see a familiar face in a crowd and think you know it, you may not be able to say how you know it right away, Halassa said. But maybe hours later, you'll remember it suddenly. It's the result of your "thinking" in the background, he says.

Even decision making is done mostly unconsciously. For example, part of this "thinking" background results in what we call an "instinct," said Halassa. "Often, our brains do a lot of calculations and spit their intuition." We do not always have conscious access to the decision-making process of our brain and we sometimes create a story to explain the decision. Sometimes she's right, sometimes no, he added.

Kam agrees that your definition of "thinking" changes the answer to the question. "If you mean thinking, that is, having an inner dialogue with ourselves, then yes, we can stop having that inner dialogue," Kam said. But if thinking means not focusing on anything in particular, "I think it would be much harder for the layman."

Even sitting down to read this, thinking about thinking, is sending messages across a chain of neurons in the brain. So, if we manage in one way or another to prevent us from consciously "thinking" or reaching an "empty state of mind" through meditation, the brain will not disconnect. He will continue to have thoughts – we will not simply ignore them.

Originally published on Science live.