Dissociating the freely-moving thought dimension of mind-wandering from the intentionality and task-unrelated thought dimensions

O’Neill, Kevin; Smith, Anna P.; Smilek, Daniel; Seli, Paul

doi:10.1007/s00426-020-01419-9

Cited by 20 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…However, we also found that age was negatively associated with unconstrained ontask thought. This result is particularly interesting as it suggests that unconstrained on-task thought is more like mind wandering than constrained on-task thought and is consistent with the view that constraint and task-relatedness are dissociable (e.g., Mills et al, 2018;O'Neill et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

“…One potential limitation of Experiment 1 was that we only measured general rates of (un)constrained thoughts and did not measure the task-relatedness of those thoughts. Although prior work suggests that the thought-constraint and task-relatedness dimensions of mind wandering are dissociable (e.g., Mills et al, 2018;O'Neill et al, 2020;, they are not entirely independent. \., for instance, found that off-task thoughts were more likely to be unconstrained than constrained, and, conversely, that ontask thoughts were more likely to be constrained than unconstrained.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…In Experiment 1, we adapted the thought probes used in Experiment 1 to include a measure of task-relatedness (i.e., "on task" or "off task") in addition to thought constraint. Constraint and taskrelatedness, although seemingly dissociable (Mills et al, 2018;O'Neill et al, 2020;, are closely related in that off-task thought tends to be more unconstrained and on-task According to Hypothesis A, the act of constraining our thoughts is resource-demanding; thus, Hypothesis A predicts fewer constrained and more unconstrained thought when resources are reduced (i.e., in a difficult task). According to Hypothesis B, the act of engaging in unconstrained thought is resource-demanding; thus, according to this hypothesis, we should observe fewer unconstrained and more constrained thoughts when resources are reduced (i.e., in a difficult task).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Thought dynamics under task demands: Evaluating the influence of task difficulty on unconstrained thought.

Brosowsky

Murray

Schooler

et al. 2021

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Perfor

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As research on mind wandering has accelerated, the construct's defining features have expanded and researchers have begun to examine different dimensions of mind wandering. Recently, Christoff and colleagues have argued for the importance of investigating a hitherto neglected variety of mind wandering: "unconstrained thought," or, thought that is relatively unguided by executive-control processes. To date, with only a few studies investigating unconstrained thought, little is known about this intriguing type of mind wandering. Across 2 experiments, we examined, for the first time, whether changes in task demand influence rates of constrained versus unconstrained thoughts. In both experiments, participants completed either an easy (0-back) or hard (2-back) task and responded to intermittently presented thought probes that gauged thought constraint throughout the task. In Experiment 1, we found that participants completing the easy task engaged in unconstrained thoughts more frequently than those completing the difficult task. In Experiment 2, we replicated this result and further demonstrated manipulations of unconstrained thought while also measuring task-relatedness (a common dimension of mind wandering). Finally, exploratory analyses showed associations between constrained thought and age, verbal intelligence, and an assessment of flow ('deep effortless concentration'), thereby adding further evidence to indicate a dissociation between taskrelatedness and constraint. We discuss the methodological and theoretical applications of our findings to the burgeoning field of research on unconstrained thought. All data, analysis, article, and experiment code can be found at https://osf.io/wr2vk/ Public Significance StatementIn the current study, we established that task difficulty can be used to effectively manipulate rates of thought constraint. This study provides novel evidence that when resources are limited, participants engage in less unconstrained thought. These important theoretical contributions further refine thought constraint as a construct within the Dynamic Framework and narrow the candidate processes underlying (un)constrained thought.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Thought dynamics under task demands: Evaluating the influence of task difficulty on unconstrained thought.

Brosowsky

Murray

Schooler

et al. 2021

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Perfor

Self Cite

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“…These constraints are distinguished based on their unique neural and phenomenological correlates and can increase the stability or variability of thought and conscious experience in different ways. A number of recent studies have used this dynamic view of thought to directly assess moment-tomoment changes in conscious experience through experience sampling [34][35][36][37][38].…”

Section: Conceptual Framework For Understanding Mental State Dynamics Dynamic Framework Of Thought (Dft)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Prefrontal contributions to the stability and variability of thought and conscious experience

Zamani

Carhart‐Harris

Christoff

2021

Neuropsychopharmacol.

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The human prefrontal cortex is a structurally and functionally heterogenous brain region, including multiple subregions that have been linked to different large-scale brain networks. It contributes to a broad range of mental phenomena, from goal-directed thought and executive functions to mind-wandering and psychedelic experience. Here we review what is known about the functions of different prefrontal subregions and their affiliations with large-scale brain networks to examine how they may differentially contribute to the diversity of mental phenomena associated with prefrontal function. An important dimension that distinguishes across different kinds of conscious experience is the stability or variability of mental states across time. This dimension is a central feature of two recently introduced theoretical frameworks—the dynamic framework of thought (DFT) and the relaxed beliefs under psychedelics (REBUS) model—that treat neurocognitive dynamics as central to understanding and distinguishing between different mental phenomena. Here, we bring these two frameworks together to provide a synthesis of how prefrontal subregions may differentially contribute to the stability and variability of thought and conscious experience. We close by considering future directions for this work.

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“…Here, I focus on the dynamic framework as introduced by Christoff and colleagues [6,21] because it explicitly aims to integrate dreaming. 7 Generally, it seems possible that the diversity of mind wandering definitions is paralleled by diversity in the target phenomenon, and different definitions track different kinds of thought [79,80]. This would mean there are distinct and partially overlapping kinds of mind wandering, in which case a family resemblance view might be more appropriate than a single overarching definition [10].…”

Section: Endnotesmentioning

confidence: 99%

How deep is the rift between conscious states in sleep and wakefulness? Spontaneous experience over the sleep–wake cycle

Windt

2020

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Whether we are awake or asleep is believed to mark a sharp divide between the types of conscious states we undergo in either behavioural state. Consciousness in sleep is often equated with dreaming and thought to be characteristically different from waking consciousness. Conversely, recent research shows that we spend a substantial amount of our waking lives mind wandering, or lost in spontaneous thoughts. Dreaming has been described as intensified mind wandering, suggesting that there is a continuum of spontaneous experience that reaches from waking into sleep. This challenges how we conceive of the behavioural states of sleep and wakefulness in relation to conscious states. I propose a conceptual framework that distinguishes different subtypes of spontaneous thoughts and experiences independently of their occurrence in sleep or waking. I apply this framework to selected findings from dream and mind-wandering research. I argue that to assess the relationship between spontaneous thoughts and experiences and the behavioural states of sleep and wakefulness, we need to look beyond dreams to consider kinds of sleep-related experience that qualify as dreamless. I conclude that if we consider the entire range of spontaneous thoughts and experiences, there appears to be variation in subtypes both within as well as across behavioural states. Whether we are sleeping or waking does not appear to strongly constrain which subtypes of spontaneous thoughts and experiences we undergo in those states. This challenges the conventional and coarse-grained distinction between sleep and waking and their putative relation to conscious states. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Offline perception: voluntary and spontaneous perceptual experiences without matching external stimulation’.

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Dissociating the freely-moving thought dimension of mind-wandering from the intentionality and task-unrelated thought dimensions

Cited by 20 publications

References 15 publications

Thought dynamics under task demands: Evaluating the influence of task difficulty on unconstrained thought.

Thought dynamics under task demands: Evaluating the influence of task difficulty on unconstrained thought.

Prefrontal contributions to the stability and variability of thought and conscious experience

How deep is the rift between conscious states in sleep and wakefulness? Spontaneous experience over the sleep–wake cycle

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