Focused and Diffuse: Two Modes of Thinking

Diffuse mode is when your mind is relaxed and free. You’re thinking about nothing in particular. You’re in diffuse mode when you’re daydreaming or doodling just for fun. If your teacher tells you to concentrate, you have probably slipped into diffuse mode.

Only if nothing else is lingering in our working memory and taking up valuable mental resources can we experience what Allen calls a “mind like water” - the state where we can focus on the work right in front of us without getting distracted by competing thoughts.

The second mode is called the diffuse mode. This mode is also important for thinking and learning.1 While you’re in the diffuse mode, thoughts are still flowing through your mind, but you’re not focusing on anything in particular. For example, you’re in the diffuse mode when random thoughts pop up while you’re standing in the shower, riding a bus,

Basically, the focused mode is used to concentrate on something that’s already tightly connected in your mind, often because you are familiar and comfortable with the underlying concepts.

• Divergent and Convergent Thinking: Creative thinking is a two-part process involving divergent thinking (generating novel ideas) and convergent thinking (narrowing down to the most useful idea).


• The Role of the Control Network:
  
  The "control network" plays a crucial role in this process by enabling flexible thinking, inhibiting distractions, and ac

“There are two modes of cognitive functioning, two modes of thought, each providing distinctive ways of ordering experience and constructing reality.”