The Science of Mind Wandering: Empirically Navigating the Stream of Consciousness

Abstract

Conscious experience is fluid; it rarely remains on one topic for an extended period without deviation. Its dynamic nature is illustrated by the experience of mind wandering, in which attention switches from a current task to unrelated thoughts and feelings. Studies exploring the phenomenology of mind wandering highlight the importance of its content and relation to meta-cognition in determining its functional outcomes. Examination of the information-processing demands of the mind-wandering state suggests that it involves perceptual decoupling to escape the constraints of the moment, its content arises from episodic and affective processes, and its regulation relies on executive control. Mind wandering also involves a complex balance of costs and benefits: Its association with various kinds of error underlines its cost, whereas its relationship to creativity and future planning suggest its potential value. Although essential to the stream of consciousness, various strategies may minimize the downsides of mind wandering while maintaining its productive aspects.

The prestimulus default mode network state predicts cognitive task performance levels on a mental rotation task

“…In recent years, it has been shown that levels of DMN activation are linked to the frequency and depth of mind‐wandering (Christoff, Gordon, Smallwood, Smith, & Schooler, 2009; Mason et al., 2007; Scheibner et al., 2017; Smallwood & Schooler, 2015). Hereby, mind‐wandering was defined as any kind of cognition independent of the task at hand, involving processes like retrieval of autobiographic memory, future planning or evaluating and judging the present (Scheibner et al., 2017).…”

“…Hereby, mind‐wandering was defined as any kind of cognition independent of the task at hand, involving processes like retrieval of autobiographic memory, future planning or evaluating and judging the present (Scheibner et al., 2017). Mind‐wandering has been associated with several impairments in cognitive functioning (for a review, see Smallwood & Schooler, 2015), however, a reduction in mind‐wandering, as well as concurrent decrease in the DMN could be observed when applying meditation strategies (Berkovich‐Ohana, Harel, Hahamy, Arieli, & Malach, 2016; Scheibner et al., 2017). Furthermore, these behavioral and neural changes in the DMN were associated with an increase in performance on working memory tasks (Berkovich‐Ohana et al., 2016).…”

“…Brain regions involved in this intrinsic network have been proposed to comprise regions of the so‐called default‐mode network (DMN) containing hubs in the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC)/precuneus, medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC)/ventral anterior cingulate cortex (vACC) and parietal regions. Cognitive processes driven by these regions involve self‐generated thought, autobiographical memory, mind‐wandering, and daydreaming (Lieberman, 2007; Mason et al., 2007; Scheibner, Bogler, Gleich, Haynes, & Bermpohl, 2017; Smallwood & Schooler, 2015). When these brain regions are active, the mind is therefore involved in internally directed thoughts and external tasks might be difficult to perform when initiated unexpectedly.…”

Time contracts and temporal precision declines when the mind wanders.

“…These results also have consequences for the costs and benefits of mind wandering (Smallwood & Schooler, 2015). Mind wandering during tasks requiring precise timing of the environment, such as operating a motor vehicle (Yanko & Spalek, 2014), will deleteriously impact performance.…”

A combined experimental and individual-differences investigation into mind wandering during a video lecture.

“…Of course, students can also be distracted even without alluring Mind Wandering, Lecture Learning, and Situational Interest 4 stimuli. Mind wandering, which refers to daydreaming, worrying, or other forms of off-task (or context-independent) thinking, is increasingly appreciated as a frequent and important cognitive activity that confers both costs and benefits (e.g., Immordino-Yang, Christodoulou, & Singh, 2012;Kane & McVay, 2012;Smallwood & Schooler, 2015).The present study combined experimental and individual-differences approaches to identify predictors and possible consequences of mind wandering during learning, using a realistic video lecture. Within a laboratory context, we assessed a wide range of individual differences variables (e.g., WMC, background knowledge and interest, epistemic beliefs) to test five a priori hypotheses (H1-H5) about mind wandering and learning derived from the existing literature.…”