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We've all been there: You're at a dull work meeting or presentation, and your mind keeps wandering-to what to eat for lunch, your weekend plans, or what's going on with the new season of Stranger Things.
我们都有过这种经历：你听着无聊的工作会议或展示，而你的大脑一直在神游--中午吃什么、周末怎么安排、或者新一季的《怪奇物语》会发生什么。
Don't feel so bad about all your daydreaming. Mind-wandering may be a sign of intelligence and creativity, according to a new study in the journal Neuropsychologia. And as long as your performance at work are doesn't suffer when your mind drifts, daydreaming may not be such a bad thing after all, the study authors say.
千万不要为自己的神游感到内疚。《神经心理学》杂志刊登的一项新研究表明：走神可能是聪慧和创造力的一种迹象。走神的时候，只要你的工作表现不受影响，那也许神游并不是一件坏事，研究作者表示。
Researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology wanted to study what happens to people's brain patterns when they're told to lie still and do nothing-a prime opportunity for mind-wandering. So they asked 112 study participants to do just that: lie in an MRI machine while starting at a fixed point for five minutes.
佐治亚理工学院的研究人员想要研究当人们被要求躺着什么都不做的时候，他们的大脑模式会发生何种情况--这是走神的绝佳机会。所以他们要求112位研究对象做了这样的事情：躺在核磁共振仪器中盯着一个点，盯五分钟。
The research team used those readings to identify which parts of the brain worked together during this type of awake but resting state, and they also compared the readings to tests the participants took to measure their creative and intellectual abilities. In addition, the participants filled out a questionnaire about how much their mind wandered in daily life.
这一研究小组用这些读数确定在这种清醒但休息的状态下，大脑的哪些部分会一起运作。他们还将这些读数与受试者所做的测试（测试他们的创造力和智力）进行了比较。此外，受试者还填写了一份问卷：每天走神多久。
The researchers made several interesting connections. People who reported more frequent daydreaming during the day scored higher on creative and intellectual tests. Their MRIs also showed they had more efficient brain systems-meaning different regions of the brain were more in sync with each other-compared to people who reported less frequent mind-wandering.
研究人员做了几个有趣的联系。与那些声称自己白天神游次数更少的人相比，那些声称自己白天神游次数更多的人在创造力和智力测试上得了更高分；他们的核磁共振成像也表明他们的大脑系统更有效--意味着大脑的不同区域之间更加一致。
The finding that mind-wandering is associated with intelligence was somewhat surprising, says lead author Christine Godwin, a psychology PhD candidate. That's because previous research has linked mind-wandering to poorer performance on memory and reading-comprehension tests, lower SAT scores, negative mood, and mental-health disorders.
博士预科生、首席作者克里斯汀·戈德温说，研究结果有点令人吃惊：神游与智力相关。这是因为先前的研究表明神游或导致记忆力差、阅读理解能力差、SAT分数更低、情绪消极、以及精神健康障碍。
"But when you think about the possibility that mind-wandering can potentially be helpful at times for cognitive-or at least not directly harmful-it makes sense," Godwin tells Health. Other research has also suggested that daydreaming (along with night dreaming) may help people become better problem-solvers, and that daydreaming about the future "can be particularly beneficial in preparing individuals to obtain their upcoming goals," the authors wrote in their paper.
"但当你思考神游或能潜在的、不时的提高认知--或至少没有直接伤害时--这也是有道理的，"戈德温对《健康》杂志说道。其它研究也表明：做白日梦（以及晚上做梦）或帮助人们更好的解决问题，而幻想自己的未来'对于个人实现即将到来的目标尤为有益，'研究作者在论文中写道。
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