Focused and diffuse mode

The focused mode has tight spacing for the rubber bumpers, which seems to, in some sense help keep your thoughts concentrated.

The diffuse mode on the other hand has more widely spaced bumpers that allow for more broad ranging ways of thinking.

The focus mood is centered on the prefrontal cortex and it often seems to involve thinking about things you are somewhat familiar with. For example if you're familiar with multiplication and you're trying to solve a multiplication problem, or you're trying to find a word that rhymes with another word. You're probably stepping along the somewhat familiar pathways of the focused mode.

But if you're trying to solve or figure out something new, it often cries out for the more broad ranging perspectives of the diffuse mode. This mode, as it turns out, is representative of the brain's many neural resting states. Creative thinkers throughout history, whatever their discipline have found ways to access the diffuse mode often more directly and quickly. But we all access this mode quite naturally when we do things like go for a walk or take a shower or even just drift off to sleep.

When we find ourselves stuck on a problem, or even if we're unsure of a situation, the course of living our daily life. It's often a good idea once you've focused directly on the situation.the course of living our daily life. It's often a good idea once you've focused directly on the situation. To let things settle back and take a bit more time. That way more neural processing can take place, often below conscious awareness in the diffuse mode.