A study in the United States has suggested that when the mind wanders during a boring task, it may be because parts of the brain simply disconnect.

The research by Daniel Weissman of the University of Michigan, which was presented at a recent neuroscience conference found that the wandering of the mind during a boring task may be because parts of the brain simply disconnects.

Attention is like a communication amplifier that only focuses on the connections between certain regions at certain times, Weissman said. According to the study, when the amplifier switches to a new set of connections, existing ones weaken. Communication between those regions slows and attention lapses.

"Attention failed to grease the connections in the brain," said Weissman. This is equivalent to these regions disconnecting, he stressed. The researchers also noticed one particular region "lit up" during lapses, and used this to predict when the mind would switch its focus.

"We're using brain signals to predict behaviour in the future," Weissman was quoted as saying by the New Scientist online. Weissman, aware that activity in different brain regions changes when attention lapses, in his research tried to find out if there were also changes in the crosstalk between regions.

The lead scientist in the research asked volunteers to spend a tedious hour in a functional MRI brain scanner, identifying letters that flashed on a screen.

The study found that at times, their reactions slowed, showing that attention was wavering. During these lapses, communication between regions related to self-control, vision and language processing died down, the New Scientist reported.