Scientists have found that when we go into a state of strong concentration or are extremely busy, we “turn off” the part of our brain that is self-aware. You’ve probably experienced this when you “lose yourself” in a task or are so concentrated that you don’t even think about how you feel at that moment.
Essentially, you’re a robot.
Which is why we all need to take time out and focus on ourselves, consciously working on being self-aware. If you’re always on the go and life is so busy it’s a blur, you’re likely to never reach a high state of self-awareness. Especially when your brain just switches off.
Check out this article below for the details. It’s pretty neat stuff.
Watching the brain ‘switch off’ self-awareness
By Gaia Vince from NewScientist.com
Everybody has experienced a sense of “losing oneself” in an activity — being totally absorbed in a task, a movie or sex. Now researchers have caught the brain in the act.
Self-awareness, regarded as a key element of being human, is switched off when the brain needs to concentrate hard on a tricky task, found the neurobiologists from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel.
The team conducted a series of experiments to pinpoint the brain activity associated with introspection and that linked to sensory function. They found that the brain assumes a robotic functionality when it has to concentrate all its efforts on a difficult, timed task — only becoming “human” again when it has the luxury of time.
Ilan Goldberg and colleagues used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to scan the brains of nine volunteers during the study. Participants were shown picture cards and told to push buttons to indicate whether or not an animal was depicted.
The series was shown slowly the first time, and at three times the rate on the second run through. On its third showing, the volunteers were asked to use the buttons to indicate their emotional response to the pictures. The experiment was then repeated using musical extracts, rather than pictures, and asked to identify whether a trumpet played.
Allocating resourcesGoldberg found that when the sensory stimulus was shown slowly, and when a personal emotional response was required, the volunteers showed activity in the superfrontal gyrus — the brain region associated with self-awareness-related function.
But when the card flipping and musical sequences were rapid, there was no activity in the superfrontal gyrus, despite activity in the sensory cortex and related structures.
“The regions of the brain involved in introspection and sensory perception are completely segregated, although well connected,” says Goldberg, “and when the brain needs to divert all its resources to carry out a difficult task, the self-related cortex is inhibited.”
FinerMinds is hosted by 
This subject of yoga philosophy is worth known only by experience.In this busy world this subject is worth knowing Our capacity to think and work is blocked by contant engagements in work and work and that is why silence and concentration of the mind are essential for our life.This subject is nicely covered by you.Thanks
Truly yours
Shankerprasad S Bhatt
Author of ‘Prayers of all Religions of the world
Source my email ssbhatt79@gmail.com
Whilst I agree that it’s important to be self-aware in order to facilitate growth, I’d also argue that losing yourself in a task and NOT being self-aware — i.e being in a state of flow — is a massively important part of being a human — and taps you into a state of being that is arguably more spiritual and powerful than anything you could hope to reach when you are concentrating on how you are currently being perceived.
As such, I’m arguing for both states of mind
Thanks for this article. I found it a bit confusing — or maybe I found my ideas about it confusing! As an instrumental player I have found that introspection whilst doing something that is very complex invaluable as an aid to improving my experience of flow/peak experience. Isn’t the problem more one of integrating the different areas of the brain and nervous system through repeated training. Reading this article makes me think that perhaps this is why activities such as playing an instrument are so difficult and time-consuming to master (for most of us!).
It’s a bit controversial to say that that state of concentration and “losing self” is like being a robot. That state of utmost concentration is often called “being in the flow” or “zone”, and it’s far from robotic behaviour — in fact it can be very spontaneous.
However, I think what the researchers are talking about here is not just a lack of self-awareness, but a state of limited narrowed-down consciousness, which is an altogether different state. There’s no place for self-awareness, because there’s no place for any awareness. There’s just concentration under some harsh constraints, which leads the mind into this trap. It’s unfortunate that this state has been compared to being “lost” in sex or watching a movie, while the research focused only on timed difficult tasks, which don’t have much to do with being engrossed in something exciting or being in a deep meditative state for example. I believe too much has been overgeneralized from this very limited research.
In the “flow” state, there’s no self-awareness either, but the consciousness is expanded, the ego doesn’t get in the way, and we usually do everything better. It’s what meditation is largely about (at least certain types of it).
Personally, like Carl above, I’d argue for both states of mind, with a preference for “the zone” — it’s rarer, but more precious
We are so busy all the time. Thinking of paying everything on time.
I work hard, I am a cement man. I do not make enough to be at ease financially. I realize that I am a robot.
But thanks to Finer Minds for the great reading they provide and that make me be less of a roboman. Thank you.
I’m in agreement with Carl and Pawel here. Losing oneself is a wonderful thing we need to do more often. At the end of the article, they say this finding gives them a clue to autism. But, cynic that I am, I fear neurologists who rely on graphs and EEG readouts will turn being in the flow into a sickness (to be treated with drugs) because it doesn’t conform to their version of proper brain functioning.
I do not agree with everything the author writes. Sometimes the constant awaress of self can be a negative burden and release from it a blessing. It probably is different for different people but in my opinion true happiness comes from being open to the experience of life instead of being so concerned about one’s own self.
For example, when someone is having a vacation of their life on the beaches of Cayman Islands, there is no need to be constantly aware of ones self. Instead, happiness comes from jumping in the warm and crystal clear ocean, lying in the sun, enjoying the magnificent scenery, listening the birds sing, eating great food and perhaps sharing all those moments with an other special person.
The buddhists say that the self is empty — that there is nothing definite we could point out and say “This here is my Self, all of it”. Maybe reaching for emptyness is simply an interesting meditation. Maybe not.
I think the suggestion “Gnothi seauton — know thyself” is more about direct experiencing of life and a lot less about focusing on the self.