A boring speech study finding by Donie

Our brain 'talks over' boring people to make their monotonous speech more interesting 

  

We all know the feeling of struggling to stay focused when stuck talking to somebody deadly boring.

Your mind wanders elsewhere as they talk on and on and then comes the embarrassment of having to respond when you haven't been listening or focused on what they are saying. 

But our brains actually quicken up to keep us alert during dreary discussions, a study has revealed. 

A study at the University of Glasgow has shown that people create a more interesting ¿inner voice¿ to drown out monotonous speech with more emotive sounds.

Researchers have discovered that the brain ‘talks over’ monotonous speakers to make their quotes more vivid – preventing us from drifting off.

The study showed that people create a more interesting ‘inner voice’ to drown out monotonous speech with more emotive sounds.

Scientists scanned the brains of 18 volunteers while they listened to short stories.

Direct speech was either spoken 'vividly' or 'monotonously' and the results found increased brain activity during the boring sections.

Crashing bore: Brain activity speeds up to make boring sound more emotive, which should keep you switched on

The response kicks in as soon as the brain hears 'monotonously-spoken' words it feels should be more expressive.

Dr Bo Yao, the principal author of the research, said: 'You may think the brain need not produce its own speech while listening to one that is already available. But, apparently, the brain is very picky on the speech it hears.

'When the brain hears monotonously-spoken direct speech quotations which it expects to be more vivid, the brain simply 'talks over' the speech it hears with more vivid speech utterances of its own.

'By doing so, the brain attempts to optimise the processing of the incoming speech, ensuring more speedy and accurate responses.'

The study, entitled 'Brain ‘Talks Over’ Boring Quotes', was conducted by scientists at the University of Glasgow's Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology.

Changes to oxygen levels in the blood demonstrated that activity in areas of the brain’s auditory cortex, which deals with human speech, increased when people listened to monotonously-spoken direct speech quotes.

Scientists believe this quickened activity points to the existence of an inner voice.

The study is published in the NeuroImage journal this month.