Mind wandering minimizes mind numbing: Reducing semantic-satiation effects through absorptive lapses of attention

Abstract

Mind wandering is associated with perceptual decoupling: the disengagement of attention from perception. This decoupling is deleterious to performance in many situations; however, we sought to determine whether it might occur in the service of performance in certain circumstances. In two studies, we examined the role of mind wandering in a test of Bsemantic satiation,^a phenomenon in which the repeated presentation of a word reduces semantic priming for a subsequently presented semantic associate. We posited that the attentional and perceptual decoupling associated with mind wandering would reduce the amount of satiation in the semantic representations of repeatedly presented words, thus leading to a reduced semantic-satiation effect. Our results supported this hypothesis: Self-reported mind-wandering episodes (Study 1) and behavioral indices of decoupled attention (Study 2) were both predictive of maintained semantic priming in situations predicted to induce semantic satiation. Additionally, our results suggest that moderate inattention to repetitive stimuli is not sufficient to enable Bdishabituation^: the refreshment of cognitive performance that results from diverting attention away from the task at hand. Rather, full decoupling is necessary to reap the benefits of mind wandering and to minimize mind numbing.

Mind-Wandering With and Without Intention

“…This is, however, somewhat ironic because many researchers have largely been interested in examining unintentional mind-wandering [33–35,82–89], and to this end, they have often presented participants with tedious and boring tasks to elicit unintentional mind-wandering (e.g., sustained-attention and vigilance tasks; [14,67,90–95]). However, given that (1) people’s level of motivation tends to be rather low when they experience boredom [96,97], and (2) decreases in motivation levels are associated with increases in intentional mind-wandering [41], it might be that the common employment of boring tasks in the context of research on mind-wandering has inadvertently elicited intentional mind-wandering.…”

Looking for ideas: Eye behavior during goal-directed internally focused cognition

“…Solving problems through spontaneous insight was associated with higher blink rates as compared to analytical problem solving (Salvi, Bricolo, Franconeri, Kounios, & Beeman, 2015). The relationship between mind wandering and blink rate is currently not clear (Mooneyham & Schooler, 2016; Smilek, Carriere, & Cheyne, 2010; Uzzaman & Joordens, 2011), but demanding internally focused cognition tasks like idea generation and insight problem solving are typically accompanied by higher blink rates (Akbari Chermahini & Hommel, 2012; Salvi et al, 2015; Ueda, Tominaga, Kajimura, & Nomura, 2015), supporting the hypothesis of an active decoupling strategy.…”

Hearing Aids Do Not Alter Cortical Entrainment to Speech at Audible Levels in Mild-to-Moderately Hearing-Impaired Subjects

“…Answers to the multiplechoice questions were often repeated during the audiobook or could be derived from the storyline. This repetition can lead to mind wandering and loss of attention, yet studies have shown that this would only affect performance in case strong detachment from the task occurs (Mooneyham and Schooler, 2016). Through observation, we were able to ensure participants were never fully losing attention to the speech stimulus.…”