Neuroscience is starting to explain why people who work in open-plan offices slowly stop having original ideas and it has to do with a surveillance response most of us don't even notice - Silicon Canals

"A 2020 study published in Scientific Reports found that even the perception of being watched - not actual observation, just the ambient possibility of it - activates the brain's posterior superior temporal sulcus and the amygdala. These are regions associated with social evaluation and threat detection."

"The brain's response to this signal is to shift resources. It pulls energy away from the default mode network - the sprawling web of brain regions responsible for daydreaming, mental simulation, and novel idea generation - and redirects it toward monitoring, self-regulation, and social performance."

"You don't decide to do this. You don't notice it happening. You just gradually stop having interesting thoughts."

The human brain undergoes automatic neurological shifts when perceiving observation, even without actual surveillance. Recent neuroscience research reveals that the mere possibility of being watched activates the posterior superior temporal sulcus and amygdala—regions associated with social evaluation and threat detection. The brain responds by reallocating energy from the default mode network, which governs daydreaming, mental simulation, and creative idea generation, toward monitoring and self-regulation instead. This unconscious process occurs gradually and imperceptibly, progressively diminishing the capacity for original thinking. Open-plan office environments create persistent low-grade social threat signals that trigger this surveillance response continuously.

Read at Silicon Canals