Lost in thought: Brain research

Prof. Rafael Malach, Ilan Golberg and Michal Harel of the Weizmann Institute’s Neurobiology Department found a scientific means of addressing this question ・by scanning the brains of volunteers performing various mental tasks. The results of their study, which were published recently in the journal Neuron, were unanticipated: When subjects were given outwardly-focused tasks that demanded their full attention, areas of the brain that relate to the self were not only inactive ・they appeared to be vigorously suppressed.

何かに熱中しているとき、自己認識に関わる脳の部分が不活性化していたって。
逆に言えば、世界をよりよく知るには、自我を捨て空になるべしという東洋的な価値観に近いんじゃないかって話もある。