The restless mind.

Abstract

This article reviews the hypothesis that mind wandering can be integrated into executive models of attention. Evidence suggests that mind wandering shares many similarities with traditional notions of executive control. When mind wandering occurs, the executive components of attention appear to shift away from the primary task, leading to failures in task performance and superficial representations of the external environment. One challenge for incorporating mind wandering into standard executive models is that it often occurs in the absence of explicit intention--a hallmark of controlled processing. However, mind wandering, like other goal-related processes, can be engaged without explicit awareness; thus, mind wandering can be seen as a goal-driven process, albeit one that is not directed toward the primary task.

Conjoint influence of mind-wandering and sleepiness on task performance.

“…It can nonetheless be noted that several previous studies have shown that the presence of mind-wandering-like thoughts during the day (e.g., Ottaviani & Couyoumdjian, 2013;Takano, Ueno, & Tanno, 2014) and prior to sleep You created this PDF from an application that is not licensed to print to novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com) (e.g., Baker et al, 2015;Wicklow & Espie, 2000) can predict difficulties of sleep-onset and a decrease of the physiological de-arousal generally associated with normal sleep processes (see also Marques, Gomes, Clemente, Moutinho dos Santos, & Castelo-Branco, 2015). Similarly, other laboratory studies have shown that the occurrence of mind-wandering is generally associated with increased sympathetic arousal, such as heart rate and skin conductance (for a review, see Smallwood & Schooler, 2006). Thus, although mind-wandering episodes are associated with increased sleepiness at the moment of their occurrence, it could be that they nonetheless induce a state of increased cognitive and physiological arousal associated with sleep difficulties.…”

“…To assess the respective impact of mind-wandering and sleepiness on task performance, we more specifically used the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART; Robertson, Manly, Andrade, Baddeley, & Yiend, 1997) in which we embedded thought-probes (Smallwood & Schooler, 2006) and the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS; Akerstedt & Gillberg, 1990), a highly validated and reliable one-item scale that is frequently used as a proxy of physiological and behavioral indicators of sleepiness (Kaida et al, 2006). The SART is one of the most commonly used task to assess the behavioral (e.g., McVay & Kane, 2012;Smallwood et al, 2004;Stawarczyk et al, 2014;Stawarczyk, Majerus, Maj, et al, 2011) and neural (e.g., Christoff, Gordon, Smallwood, Schooler, & Smith, 2009;Stawarczyk, Majerus, Maquet, & D'Argembeau, 2011) correlates of mind-wandering 1 .…”

The benefits of simply observing: Mindful attention modulates the link between motivation and behavior.

“…Conversely, we also suggest that mindfully remaining aware that one's experiences are simply mental events may support the successful training and regulation of attention. Becoming distracted from focused attention typically happens when mind wandering occurs, namely, when people have thoughts about task-irrelevant stimuli (e.g., Mrazek et al, 2011;Schooler et al, 2011;Smallwood & Schooler, 2006). Such distractions include, for example, thoughts about an upcoming event (e.g., the dinner party on Saturday), alternatives to a present event (e.g., having chocolate cake rather than working), or cravings for some appetitive object (e.g., a sweet snack; Sayette, Schooler, & Reichle, 2010).…”

Editorial: A Review of Self-Processing Biases in Cognition

“…Neuroimaging studies suggest that when participants are not occupied in task-specific processing (e.g., while waiting for a task to begin, or while mind wandering), activation in the mPFC is similar to the level associated with self-referencing (i.e., higher than the activation elicited while processing other people). During this time, thought-probes suggest that participants tend to be engaged in self-reflection, such as rumination or preparation for future events (for review see Smallwood & Schooler, 2006). Thus it is argued that the default cognitive state (i.e., the contents of cognition in the absence of contrary task demands) is focused on self (Kelley et al, 2002).…”

“…Mind-wandering paradigms assess failures of the suppression of the system that should keep participants on task, detecting when attention wanders back to default processing (Smallwood & Schooler, 2006). To assess the efficacy of strategies to counter mind wandering, Sanders, Wang, Schooler, and Smallwood (2017) primed participants with either self or nonself, before presenting a reading comprehension task to be completed.…”