Absent-mindedness is where a person shows inattentive or forgetful behavior. It can have three different causes: # a low level of

attention Attention is the behavioral and cognitive process of selectively concentrating on a discrete aspect of information, whether considered subjective or objective, while ignoring other perceivable information. William James (1890) wrote that "Atte ...

("blanking" or "zoning out") # intense attention to a single object of focus (

hyperfocus Hyperfocus is an intense form of mental concentration or visualization that focuses consciousness on a subject, topic, or task. In some individuals, various subjects or topics may also include daydreams, concepts, fiction, the imagination, and ...

) that makes a person oblivious to events around them; # unwarranted

distraction Distraction is the process of diverting the attention of an individual or group from a desired area of focus and thereby blocking or diminishing the reception of desired information. Distraction is caused by: the lack of ability to pay attentio ...

of attention from the object of focus by irrelevant thoughts or environmental events. Absent-mindedness is a mental condition in which the subject experiences low levels of

and frequent distraction. Absent-mindedness is not a diagnosed condition but rather a state people experience in their daily lives from a variety of different causes including boredom, sleepiness, or focus on internal thoughts instead of external surroundings. When experiencing absent-mindedness, people tend to show signs of memory lapse and weak recollection of recently occurring events. This can usually be a result of a variety of other conditions often diagnosed by clinicians such as

attention deficit hyperactivity disorder Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by excessive amounts of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity that are pervasive, impairing in multiple contexts, and otherwise age-inap ...

and depression. In addition to absent-mindedness leading to an array of consequences affecting daily life, it can have more severe, long-term problems.

Conceptualization

Absent-mindedness seemingly consists of lapses of concentration or "zoning out". This can result in lapses of short or long-term memory, depending on when the person in question was in a state of absent-mindedness. Absent-mindedness also relates directly to lapses in

. Schachter and Dodsen of the Harvard Psychology department say, that in the context of memory, "absent-mindedness entails inattentive or shallow processing that contributes to weak memories of ongoing events or forgetting to do things in the future".

Causes

Though absent-mindedness is a frequent occurrence, there has been little progress made on what the direct causes of absent-mindedness are. However, it tends to co-occur with ill health, preoccupation, and distraction. Three potential causes: # a low level of

("blanking" or "zoning out") # intense attention to a single object of focus (

) that makes a person oblivious to events around them; # unwarranted

of attention from the object of focus by irrelevant thoughts or environmental events. Absent-mindedness is also noticed as a common characteristic of personalities with

schizoid personality disorder Schizoid personality disorder (, often abbreviated as SzPD or ScPD) is a personality disorder characterized by a Asociality, lack of interest in social relationships, a tendency toward a solitary or sheltered lifestyle, secretiveness, emotion ...

Consequences

Lapses of attention are clearly a part of everyone's life. Some are merely inconvenient, such as missing a familiar turn-off on the highway, while some are extremely serious, such as failures of attention that cause accidents, injury, or loss of life. Sometimes, lapses of attention can even lead huge impact on personal behaviour which directs to the goals. Beyond the obvious costs of accidents arising from lapses in attention, there are lost

time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

;

efficiency Efficiency is the often measurable ability to avoid wasting materials, energy, efforts, money, and time in doing something or in producing a desired result. In a more general sense, it is the ability to do things well, successfully, and without ...

; personal

productivity Productivity is the efficiency of production of goods or services expressed by some measure. Measurements of productivity are often expressed as a ratio of an aggregate output to a single input or an aggregate input used in a production proces ...

; and quality of life. These can also occur in the lapse and recapture of awareness and attention to everyday tasks. Individuals for whom intervals between lapses are very short are typically viewed as

impaired Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be Cognitive disability, cognitive, Developmental disability, dev ...

. Given the prevalence of attentional failures in everyday life, and the ubiquitous and sometimes disastrous consequences of such failures, it is rather surprising that relatively little work has been done to directly measure individual differences in everyday

error An error (from the Latin ''error'', meaning "wandering") is an action which is inaccurate or incorrect. In some usages, an error is synonymous with a mistake. The etymology derives from the Latin term 'errare', meaning 'to stray'. In statistics ...

s arising from propensities for failures of attention. Absent-mindedness can also lead to bad grades at school, boredom, and depression.

Absent-mindedness in popular culture

The

absent-minded professor The absent-minded professor is a stock character of popular fiction, usually portrayed as a talented academic whose academic brilliance is accompanied by below-par functioning in other areas, leading to forgetfulness and mistakes. One explanat ...

is a

stock character A stock character, also known as a character archetype, is a fictional character in a work of art such as a novel, play, or a film whom audiences recognize from frequent recurrences in a particular literary tradition. There is a wide range of st ...

often depicted in fictional works, usually as a talented academic whose focus on academic matters leads them to ignore or forget their surroundings. This stereotypical view can be traced back as far as the philosopher

Thales Thales of Miletus ( ; grc-gre, Θαλῆς; ) was a Greek mathematician, astronomer, statesman, and pre-Socratic philosopher from Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor. He was one of the Seven Sages of Greece. Many, most notably Aristotle, regarded him ...

, who it is said, "walked at night with his eyes focused on the heavens and, as a result, fell down a

well A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...

". One classic example of this is in the Disney film ''

The Absent-Minded Professor ''The Absent-Minded Professor'' is a 1961 American science fiction comedy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and based on the short story "A Situation of Gravity" by Samuel W. Taylor, originally published in the May 22, 1943 issue of ''Li ...

'' made in 1963 and based on the short story "A Situation of Gravity", by

Samuel W. Taylor Samuel Woolley Taylor (February 5, 1907 – September 26, 1997) was an American novelist, scriptwriter, and historian. Biography Taylor was born in Provo, Utah to Janet "Nettie" Maria Woolley and John W. Taylor, the son of John Taylor, p ...

. Two examples of this character portrayed in more modern media include doctor

Emmett Brown Emmett Lathrop Brown, Ph.D., commonly referred to as Doc Brown, is a fictional scientist character in the ''Back to the Future'' franchise. In the world of the franchise, he is the inventor of the world's first and second time machines, the f ...

from ''

Back to the Future ''Back to the Future'' is a 1985 American science fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis, and written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale. It stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and Thomas F. Wilson. Set in 1985, ...

'' and

Professor Farnsworth Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth, commonly referred to in-show as either Professor Farnsworth or simply Professor, is a fictional character in the American animated television series '' Futurama''. The mad scientist proprietor of the Planet Expres ...

of ''

Futurama ''Futurama'' is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of the professional slacker Philip J. Fry, who is cryogenically preserved for 1000 years a ...

''. In literature, "

The Absent-Minded Beggar "The Absent-Minded Beggar" is an 1899 poem by Rudyard Kipling, set to music by Sir Arthur Sullivan and often accompanied by an illustration of a wounded but defiant British soldier, "A Gentleman in Kharki", by Richard Caton Woodville. The song w ...

" is a poem by

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

, written in 1899,Fowler, Simon
"The Absent-Minded Beggar": an introduction
Fowler History site, 2001, accessed 5 August 2011 and was directed at the absent–mindedness of the population of Great Britain in ignoring the plight of their troops in the

Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sou ...

. The poem illustrated the fact that soldiers who could not return to their previous jobs needed support, and the need to raise money to support the fighting troops. The poem was also set to music by

Gilbert & Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which ''H.M.S. Pina ...

and a campaign raised to support the British troops, especially on their departure and return, and the sick and wounded.Cannon, John. "Following the Absent-minded Beggar", ''Gilbert and Sullivan News'', Autumn 2010, Vol. IV, No.12, pp. 10–12

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It ...

also wrote "Absent-minded Window-gazing", one of his short-story titles from '' Betrachtung''. Other characters include: * Amberglas from ''The Seven Towers'' by

Patricia Wrede Patricia Collins Wrede (; born March 27, 1953) is an American author of fantasy literature. She is known for her ''Enchanted Forest Chronicles'' series for young adults, which was voted number 84 in NPR's 100 Best-Ever Teen Novels list. Caree ...

. * Alicja, a character from

Joanna Chmielewska Joanna Chmielewska was the pen name of Irena Kühn née Becker (2 April 1932 – 7 October 2013), a Polish novelist and screenwriter. Her work is often described as "ironic detective stories". Her novels, which have been translated into at lea ...

's novels. Alicja is described by the author as "the epitome of absent-mindedness". *

Caboose A caboose is a crewed North American railroad car coupled at the end of a freight train. Cabooses provide shelter for crew at the end of a train, who were formerly required in switching and shunting, keeping a lookout for load shifting, damag ...

, from the web series ''

Red vs. Blue ''Red vs. Blue'', often abbreviated as ''RvB'', is an American web series created by Burnie Burns with his production company Rooster Teeth. The show is based on the setting of the military science fiction first-person shooter series and media fr ...

'' by RoosterTeeth. *

Hay Lin The following is a list of characters in the ''W.I.T.C.H.'' comics. The series revolves around five teenage girls who possess magical powers over the first five elements of nature and are revealed to be the second generation of Guardians of the ...

is an absent-minded character from the Italian comic book series ''

W.I.T.C.H. ''W.I.T.C.H.'' (stylised as ''W.i.t.c.h.'') is an Italian fantasy Disney comics series created by Elisabetta Gnone, Alessandro Barbucci, and Barbara Canepa. The series features a group of five teenage girls who become the guardians of the classi ...

'', later made into an animated Disney production. *

Professor Calculus Professor Cuthbert Calculus (french: Professeur Tryphon Tournesol , meaning "Professor Tryphon Sunflower") is a fictional character in ''The Adventures of Tintin'', the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. He is Tintin's friend, an abse ...

in ''

The Adventures of Tintin ''The Adventures of Tintin'' (french: Les Aventures de Tintin ) is a series of 24 bande dessinée#Formats, ''bande dessinée'' albums created by Belgians, Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name Hergé. The series was one ...

'' comics.

Measurement and treatment

Absent-mindedness can be avoided or fixed in several ways. Although it can't be accomplished through medical procedures, it can be accomplished through psychological treatments. Examples include: altering work schedules to make them shorter, having frequent rest periods and utilizing a drowsy-operator warning device. Absent-mindedness and its related topics are often measured in scales developed in studies to survey boredom and attention levels. For instance, the Attention-Related Cognitive Errors Scale (ARCES) reflects errors in performance that result from attention lapses. Another scale, called the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) measures the ability to maintain a reasonable level of attention in everyday life. The Boredom Proneness Scale (BPS) measures the level of boredom in relation to the attention level of the subject.

Mistakes and related phenomena

Absent-mindedness can lead to

automatic behaviors Automatic behavior, from the Greek ''automatos'' or self-acting, is the spontaneous production of often purposeless verbal or motor behavior without conscious self-control or self-censorship. This condition can be observed in a variety of contexts ...

automatisms Automatism refers to a set of brief unconscious behaviors. These typically last for several seconds to minutes or sometimes longer, a time during which the subject is unaware of his/her actions. This type of automatic behaviour often occurs in c ...

. Additionally, absent-minded actions can involve behavioral mistakes. A phenomenon called Attention-Lapse Induced Alienation occurs when a person makes a mistake while absent-minded. The person then attributes the mistake to their hand rather than their self, because they were not paying attention. Another related topic to absent-mindedness is daydreaming. It may be beneficial to differentiate between these two topics. Daydreaming can be viewed as a coping or defense mechanism. As opposed to inattentiveness, daydreaming is a way for emotions to be explored and even expressed through fantasy. It may even bring attention to previously experienced problems or circumstances. It is also a way to bring about creativity.

Footnotes

External links

Oops! The Absent and Wandering Mind
University of Waterloo {{Memory Attention Personality traits