Mind the blank: behavioral, experiential, and physiological signatures of absent-mindedness

Abstract

Does being awake mean being conscious? This study investigates Mind Blanking (MB), characterized by an "emptiness of mind", comparing it with Mind Wandering (MW) and On-task (ON) states. Using a sustained attention task and electroencephalogram monitoring on 26 participants, behavioral and neurophysiological signatures of MB were examined. MB exhibited a specific pattern of behavioral lapses, as well as decreased fast oscillatory activity and complexity over posterior electrodes compared to MW. Functional connectivity analyses also revealed decreased frontal-posterior connectivity during MB and event-related potentials indicated a disruption in late-stage visual processing, suggesting a lack of conscious access to sensory information during MB. EEG-based neural features enabled trial-level prediction of mental states, furnishing estimates of the fine-grained dynamics of consciousness beyond subjective reports. Overall, these findings challenge the notion of continuous wake consciousness, suggesting that MB represents genuine gaps in our stream of thoughts.

Relating mind-blanking to the content and dynamics of spontaneous thinking

“…b) In the same dataset, MB was differentiated from other mental states based on higher power in the delta, theta and alpha bands in parietal electrodes, and lower power in beta and gamma bands during the sustained attention task. This effect was accompanied by reduced parietal complexity [13]. EEG-Peripheral physiology.…”

“…When EEG was combined with experience-sampling during a sustained attention to response task (SART), slow-wave-like activity was observed during wakefulness and preceded MB reports particularly on posterior parietal electrodes, compared to frontal slow-wave like activity which was observed during mind-wandering [6••]. In a reanalysis of the same dataset aiming to characterize the spectral and complexity profile of MB, MB reports during the SART were characterized by higher power in delta and alpha bands, lower power in beta and gamma, and reduced parietal complexity, indictive of reduced arousal brain configurations [13] (Figure 1; EEG).…”